A teacher from Wembley has been included in the top 50 shortlist for the Global Teacher Prize 2016.
Now in its second year, and widely referred to as the Nobel Prize for teaching, the $1 million award is the largest prize of its kind.
Colin Hegarty from Preston Manor School in Wembley was raised in a one-bedroom council flat in Kilburn , by Irish immigrant parents and was taught that education was the best way to improve one’s life.
He went on to get a first-class degree in Mathematics at Oxford, then quit his job at an accountancy firm and took a £40,000 pay cut to get more job satisfaction from teaching.
Today he teaches maths to high school children using a flipped classroom approach, but his teaching extends far beyond his own students.
The 1,500 videos on learning maths that he has created and made available for free on his website Hegartymaths.com which have received nearly five million views.
In 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron presented him with a Teacher of the Year award , which he received for teaching excellence and the influence his online work has had on pupils, parents and teachers.
The top 50 teachers have been shortlisted from 8,000 nominations and applications from 148 countries from around the world.
Getwestlondon sat down with Colin Hegarty to discuss his love for teaching and find out why he deserves to become the world's best teacher.
What do you love about teaching?
“I love inspiring students to realise their potential and trying, as best as I can, to give them the hunger for learning and education, which I believe is a great leveller.
“I was lucky enough to have the most wonderful parents who instilled this belief in me as a young man and this is something I like to share with the students I teach.
“Helping a student move from self-doubt to confidence in themselves is a wonderful thing and helping them realise the great importance of education is as good a gift as you can share.
“I thoroughly enjoy working with young people, hearing their stories, and helping them learn.
“Working in a school is always exciting and there is rarely a day when a student doesn't do or say something to make you smile, often at a well needed time of the day.”
What do you love about teaching your subject?
“As much as I love the beauty of Mathematics and appreciate its utility in the world, the main reason I love teaching school Mathematics to young people is to change their beliefs in themselves and their view of the subject.
“Mathematics can often be viewed as a subject you either can or can't do but I do not believe this to be the case.
“There is almost nothing as satisfying as facilitating a young person to believe in their potential and change their mindset from doubt to confidence.”
Did you have any inspirational teachers when you were growing up?
“I had the most wonderful tutor whilst at University. Dr Peter Neumann was my personal tutor on my Mathematics course.
“He is such a highly intelligent man, who helped me realise the beauty, elegance and rich history of the subject.
“He also took enormous pleasure and time to make what he was teaching accessible, never making you feel stupid when you, inevitably, were a few paces behind him and his mind.
What inspires you?
“With my online work, my biggest inspiration is the many positive "thank you" messages students write to say thank you for the support my HegartyMaths website has provided them.
“Every story sent through inspires me to keep doing what I am doing, sharing free online maths lessons.
“I have a big dream to commit the entire school maths curriculum to an online format where all the concepts are taught and assessed for any student to access for free so that regardless of their income or life status, they have access to a high quality source of home support.
“I hope to launch this "dream" platform at the start of 2016 and this project is certainly something that keeps me up late into the night trying to realise.
"Professionally, many of the wonderful and hard-working teachers in my school, Preston Manor, Wembley are a constant source of inspiration and support for me as a classroom teacher.
"Finally the students in my classes provide the daily inspiration to keep me working hard and being the best I can be for them."
