Teacher who quit after gay revelation up for award
A BIRMINGHAM schoolteacher who resigned after parents complained he had told pupils he was gay is in line for the one million dollar ‘world’s best teacher’ award.
It took one complaint from a parent “as a Christian” to undo all Andrew Moffat’s work as assistant head at Chilwell Croft Academy, in Newtown, teaching children respect for people of different sexual orientation.
A meeting of 40 parents followed with calls for an apology and the removal of books he had used in lessons. Above all, the parents objected that he had told children he was gay. Mr Moffat felt he could no longer continue and resigned.
Far from retreating to a safe haven, however, he crossed Birmingham to take up an even greater challenge at Parkfield Community school, where 98.9 per cent of pupils are from Muslim families.
Since then, he has not looked back, and he was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2017 for services to equality and diversity in education.
Now the Parkfield teacher has made the shortlist for the ‘world’s best teacher’ title. Mr Moffat, from Solihull, is a personal social health education teacher whose ‘No Outsiders’ programme teaches inclusiveness and reduces the potential for radicalisation among students.
He also runs an after-school club which creates opportunities for children at his school to meet people of different races, religions and cultures around Birmingham.
Two other teachers in England have also made the shortlist in The Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, which was set up to recognise an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession. They are Emma Russo, who works in London, and Jimmy Rotheram, who is based in Bradford.
They are among teachers from 39 countries who made the top 50 shortlist from more than 10,000 nominations and applications. The top 50 shortlist will be now be narrowed down by a committee to just ten finalists, whose names will be revealed in February.