London maths teacher shortlisted for $1 million Nobel-style teaching prize

Laura Proto17 February 2016

A maths teacher who has created more than a thousand videos to explain the subject to pupils is in the running to win a Nobel-style prize for teaching worth $1 million.

Colin Hegarty, who works at Preston Manor School in Wembley, has made it to the final 10 shortlisted for the second annual Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize

The award recognises an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession and the winner is due to be revealed at a ceremony held at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai next month.

Mr Hegarty said he was "shell-shocked” when he learned he had made the shortlist.

"It's an amazing idea to get good news stories out there about amazing teachers," he said.

Videos: Colin Hegarty uploaded clips of his maths lessons onto YouTube for pupils to watch
PA Wire

The 34-year-old who became a teacher six years ago, after previously working as an accountant for Deloitte, added: "I love teaching maths, ever since I changed career, I can't get enough of it."

The maths specialist starting creating videos on the subject about four years ago, after an A-level student had to take time off to see his sick father and he was worried about the student falling behind.

Mr Hegarty decided to put his maths lessons online and the student kept up with his studies and passed his A-level.

Since then, Mr Hegarty has made more than 1,000 videos, which have amassed a total of six million views.

He said: “I didn't make the videos to be a YouTube sensation.

“It kind of snowballed. When I got a few positive comments it made me want to make more.”

After winning a UK teacher of the year award prize in 2014, Mr Hegarty is now taking a sabbatical to establish a dedicated website for his maths videos, which went live last week.

Mr Hegarty said that if he wins the Global Teacher Prize, he will invest the money in his website.

He added: "I would like to use it to make this website change maths education.”

The other nine finalists are from countries around the world including Pakistan, Kenya, Palestine, the USA, Japan, Finland, Australia and India.

The winner will receive $1 million (about £630,000) and be asked to serve as a global ambassador for the Varkey Foundation, attending events and speaking about their work.

They will also be required to remain working as a classroom teacher for at least five years as a condition of winning the award.

Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation, said: “I want to congratulate Colin Hegarty for being selected as a top 10 finalist from such a huge number of talented and dedicated teachers.

“I hope his story will inspire those looking to enter the teaching profession and also shine a powerful spotlight on the incredible work teachers do all over the UK and throughout the world every day.”

Additional reporting by Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in