The most sacred date in the Protocol Education calendar is finally here again: It’s World Teachers' Day! Millions of people will be marking the date by celebrating the extraordinary work of teachers across the globe.
Here at Protocol Education towers, we’ve been getting in the World Teachers' Day spirit by asking our dedicated educational recruitment experts about the stellar teachers in their own lives who made them the people they are. Their stories aren’t just guaranteed to put a smile on your face. They will remind you of just how transformative a great teacher can be. Let’s kick-off World Teachers' Day with 4 inspiring tales of terrific teachers!
“Mr Cowell was my year 6 teacher and also taught music and ran the choir. I cannot sing now, and I doubt I could then, but Mr Cowell made being in the choir fun. If I ever hear The Urban Spaceman by the Bonzo Dog Doo Da Band or Windmills of Your Mind by Dusty Springfield I am transported back to Sir Francis Drake Primary School circa 1982.” - Scott Owen, Head of Content and Campaigns
"My Grade 4 teacher in the early 1960s, in the small rural school in the back-blocks of Australia where I completed my primary education. She was a bit ferocious, and a bit mean. She once made me scrape dried paint (which she had spilt) off the classroom floor because I dared call her by her first name (Alice). But behind that stern exterior was a determination to see her students succeed. She would spend time with me sharing her tales about countries in Europe through which she had backpacked in the 1950s. She was the only person I knew then who had been abroad. I was awestruck by her descriptions of exotic countries she had visited; she set my own determination to do the same. We ended up working together as teachers; I was in my first year of teaching and she was in her retirement year. And over 60 years later, here I am on the other side of the world, and still exploring, because Miss Dick told me to do it!"- Brian Todd, Head of Quality
"My Grade 5 teacher Mrs Egan inspired me. I had had some pretty scary teachers in my primary years. I was a child of the ‘60s and corporal punishment was still accepted. She was kind, compassionate, patient and inclusive. Every child in that class loved her. She was my hero!" - Ruth Bell, SEND Development and Wellbeing Manager
"Mr Keates was my first English teacher when I arrived at secondary school, and from Year 7 onwards he inspired me deeply. Exuberant, eloquent, eccentric, endlessly encouraging, and a published expert in everything from the history of Venice to the music of Handel, his legend among pupils had deep roots. This was never clearer than when, at a special event to mark his retirement from the school after 30 years of service, several generations of pupils past and present turned up to toast his health and thank him for everything he had done for them. A polymath who helped me excel in my English GCSEs while also unlocking my creative side by casting me in his theatre productions, I doff my cap to Mr Keates in his well-earned, happy retirement by the river at Richmond." - Alex Schulte, Content Writer
Molding minds, inspiring a lifelong love of travel, bringing out a passion for music and treating pupils with compassion – all just another day’s work for a great teacher. All of us at Protocol Education are so proud to support teachers in all they do. This World Teachers' Day, we will keep in our minds the many throughout the world battling challenging and actively unsafe conditions to give children the best chance in life.
If you are an educator who would like to shape children’s futures for the better just like these 4 classroom heroes did, check out our latest teaching jobs here.
