Award

Lifetime achievement in a secondary school, East Midlands region.

Citation

Thirty-seven years in teaching, 27 of them as deputy head of his present school. “The one consistent, stable and unifying factor that has shapedthe history of the schoolI An outstanding teacher, leader and manager, he has enriched thousands of young lives.”

Background

Geography degree, and then the civil service as a hydrographer at the Admiralty. “Some of it was hush-hush stuff - the basis for lots of rumours here about my time as a special agent. But I thought, ‘I’m more ambitious than this’ and trained to teach.”

Turning points?

“Leaving the civil service. As a career, it was too much a case of dead men’s shoes.”

Most proud of?

“Mostly, that I’ve been able to play a part in shaping my pupils’ futures. I suppose I’ve got a bit of tenacity, too. I’m pretty adept at raising funding. My nickname among the staff is Del Boy, which is something I try to live down. It’s mainly things like sponsored walks, but we do raise thousands of pounds. I’m also putting funding together to turn an old lecture theatre into a 35-station independent learning centre. I want to see it finished by the time I retire.”

Any regrets?

“It’s getting more and more difficult to find teachers and retain them. Once my generation has left, there’ll be a huge vacuum.”

And if you win a national title?

“I’d be proud, of course, but I think mostly I’d feel humble. I know what I’d spend the money on, though: finishing our independent learning centre. It would be quite a swansong.”

Michael Duffy

The national finals of the Teaching Awards will be held in London on October 28, and broadcast on BBC1 on November 4. www.teachingawards.com