On Sunday, the winner of the Global Teacher Prize will be announced at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai.
As well as the kudos of being named, in effect, the world’s best teacher, the winner will take home $1 million, courtesy of the Varkey Foundation.
Having already interviewed the UK’s contender, Raymond Chambers, TES caught up with another of the teachers competing for the prestigious award - Wemerson da Silva Nogueira, a Brazilian science teacher.
Nogueira’s teaching contributed to a huge reduction in the local crime rate in the municipality of Boa Esperança. He set his pupils’ imaginations alight by taking them to analyse samples of the polluted mud and water from the nearby river - and then helped the local community to clean it up.
He tells TES about how a troubled classmate kickstarted his career, why teachers should embrace innovation, and just exactly what he’d do with $1 million.
Why and how did you begin to teach?
I have always been a very hyperactive child at school and because of that, my teachers appointed me to be a student monitor.
I began to help my colleagues and that’s when I met Thiago, whose financial situation and surrounding society had put him in a difficult situation. One day, during the break, Thiago told me that his parents were involved in drugs and that he did not have many expectations from school. Listening to those words moved me a lot. After that day, I began to dedicate myself more and more to helping him and to try to show him a new vision of the school.
When I graduated in 2007, I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I studied at a distance and graduated in science. Today, Thiago is also a teacher. He graduated in physical education and we got to work together.
I would say that education was born within my heart; just as a seed is planted and a tree is born, it will be up to each one of us to take care to have good fruit or not.
What is the best thing about the profession?
Being able to educate has transformed me and continues to transform me every day. The contact with the students motivates me to wake up every day and go to the fight.
What is the worst thing about teaching?
I love my profession. Educating is my passion. But as a teacher I have a more critical view of situations that could improve and that would provide better conditions for teachers and more importantly, for students. We should get out of the box more. Innovation in practice is sometimes not well regarded by the more conservative, but our students deserve it and are more encouraged to live the experiences the school provides.
How did you feel when you knew you had been shortlisted for the Global Teacher Prize?
When I received the news that I had been selected, a film was in my head. I cried as I remembered all my parents’ efforts to educate me. I am honored to know that I was chosen to represent two million Brazilian teachers, who have given their blood every day, in search of a quality education.
Being able to inspire so many other young people who have not yet chosen their professions is gratifying. I got messages from people who said they want to start educating because they saw my story, and that’s surreal.
If you win, what are you going to do with the money?
I have three primary pillars. First I would invest in my self-knowledge, I believe that the teacher constantly needs to search for his education, follow scientific advances and modernise more and more with the contemporary world.
Secondly, I would look to develop science and technology laboratories in my hometown Nova Venécia - we will promote throughout the city an increasingly fun and playful methodology for our students to learn science.
Finally, in partnership with the federal, state and municipal government, I intend to open a foundation to promote the training of teachers from all over Brazil.
