On Sunday 18th March, the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai has pronounced a teacher from Northwest London as the world's best teacher, awarding her with $1 million (£717,000) for her outstanding contribution to her profession.
Andria Zafirakou, 39, art and textiles teacher at Alperton Community School learnt how to deliver basic greetings in 35 languages including, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil and Portuguese so that she could communicate with parents.
She also helped set up sports club for girls from conservative backgrounds, helped redesign the curriculum, and also visited pupils at home.
Andria Zafirakou has become the first teacher in the UK to win the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.
Zafirakou said, “The community where I teach in Brent is beautifully diverse and indeed is one of the most multicultural communities in the world. It is also a community where many of our students unfortunately live in challenging circumstances. They have tough lives. What is amazing is whatever issues they are having at home, whatever is missing from their lives or causing them pain, our school is theirs. I know if our school could open at six o'clock in the morning, there would be a queue of children waiting outside at five o'clock in the morning. That's how phenomenal they are.”
Prime Minister Theresa May recorded a video message telling Zafirakou, “You have shown enormous dedication and creativity in your work. Being a great teacher requires resilience, ingenuity and a generous heart.”
There were 30,000 entries from 173 countries and the other finalists were from Turkey, USA, Belgium, South Africa, Norway, Australia, Brazil, Colombia and the Philippines.
The education secretary, Damian Hinds stated, “Andria's story is inspiring and I am thrilled that she has received recognition.”
The world's best teacher will become an ambassador for the foundation. Additionally, she must remain in teaching for at least five years. She will receive her prize money in instalments.
