Ted Wragg: a sad loss to the world of education and to The TES in particular, 2005 witnessed the last words of the ever-popular academic, writer and raconteur who died aged 67.
Stephen Twigg: the popular schools minister, was booted out of his constituency and government by voters of Enfield Southgate at the general election.
David Hart: Retired after 27 years leading the NAHT before startling former colleagues by suggesting business executives should be recruited to run schools.
Rex Gibson, who died in May, transformed the teaching of Shakespeare, urging teachers to see the plays as working scripts. He led the Shakespeare and Schools project, run by the Cambridge university Institute of Education.
Jean Gemmell, general secretary, of the Professional Association of Teachers had her swansong in 2005. Philip Parkin, deputy head of Old Clee junior in Grimsby, takes up the reins of the smallest, quaintest teachers’
union next year.