Abed Ahmed from Washwood Heath Academy in Birmingham has been crowned New Teacher of the Year at the Tes Schools Awards 2019. Mr Ahmed was presented with his award by comedian, Harry Hill, at the Friday evening gala awards evening at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane.
Mr Ahmed, known on Twitter as @stammer_teacher, was told he could never be a teacher owing to the fact he has a stammer. Now he is in his third year of teaching, not only producing good results in his maths department but also running stammer support groups where he helps pupils with their stammers and becoming confident and happy. He has done incredibly well to be named the best new teacher of the year, beating competition from teachers across the UK.
Tes Editor Ann Mroz said: “We had a record number of entries this year and the standard was incredibly high so all our winners should be extremely proud of their achievement. The quality of entries was superb, and as always, our illustrious panel of judges deliberated long and hard to reach its final selections.
“We’ve had the privilege of hearing about so many creative and inspiring initiatives that are improving outcomes and life chances of young people. The spirit of great teaching really was at the heart of each and every entry and it’s been wonderful to see such amazing ideas and excellent practice emerging from our schools, especially considering the difficult circumstances that many schools operate under.”
Judges described Mr Ahmed as “a phenomenal guy” who overcame the challenge of his stammer and a number of rejections for his ITT applications to go back and train as a teacher at the school he attended. People describe him as a “role model to young people” who is “going from strength to strength”.
The Tes awards have been running for over 10 years to recognise the outstanding individuals and institutions that the education sector has to offer. They were judged by a collection of the UK’s most illustrious education experts.
Abed Ahmed said: “I’m shocked. I wasn’t expecting it at all. This award is a real credit to the children at the school. This is only my third year of teaching!”
Comedian, Harry Hill, who presented the awards said: “I felt quite emotional tonight giving out these awards – thanks so much for inviting me. What a night!”
