Phil Willis may be the hero of our website readers (page 2) but Estelle Morris is The TES person of the year. Her commitment to the policies she believed in, her determination to carry the profession with her in pursuit of those policies and her courage and honesty in admitting that she was not being effective enough, stand out as beacons of integrity in a world awash with cynicism. She never ducked responsibility, even for mistakes that were not hers.
Education depends on teamwork, not individuals. And the thousands who work miracles daily in classrooms are heroic too. But teams and teachers also need leaders who inspire, encourage and support.
Providing leadership in an era of escalating expectations did not make Estelle Morris universally popular, as our web poll shows. But the refreshing candour that marked out her ministerial career was also evident at its end. We salute her for it.