Canadian, Maggie MacDonnell wins $1m Global Teacher Prize
- Beats Kenyan, Wamaya, to award
Olawunmi Ojo, Dubai
Canadian teacher, Maggie MacDonnell, has won the $1m Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize for 2017.
Her choice was announced on Sunday, March 19, via a special video message by astronaut Thomas Pesquet from the International Space Station, broadcast into the Global Teacher Prize ceremony.
The ceremony was the grand finale of this year’s Global Education and Skills Forum held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
In making the announcement, Pesquet said, “I would like to be the first person in history to thank all the world’s teachers from space. Congratulations Maggie. At least once a day, as we orbit the earth, I get a view of the Canadian arctic where you teach. You should see how beautiful it looks from 220 miles up. And it’s a place that you’re protecting by teaching the next generation how they can take care of it. See you all back home.”
MacDonnell, who teaches at the Ikusik School in Salluit, a remote Innuit village nestled in an environment as harsh as the Canadian Arctic, beat nine other finalists to win the award regarded as the Nobel Prize for Teaching and the largest prize open to teachers across the globe.
She was presented the prize by Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the founder of United Kingdom-based Varkey Foundation, Sunny Varkey at the ceremony.
Adventurer, Bear Grylls had earlier jumped off a helicopter above the venue of the ceremony, before parachuting down to bring the trophy into the hall.
Organisers say MacDonnell won the prize because, while teaching in a harsh environment with very high rate of teacher turnover – a significant barrier to education in the Arctic, she has designed an approach to teaching “that has been about turning students from problems to solutions.”
“She has created a life skills programme specifically for girls, which has seen a 500 per cent improvement in girls’ registration. She has also dramatically improved school attendance by getting her students involved in running a community kitchen, attending suicide prevention training and hiking through national parks to understand environmental stewardship.
“Maggie also established a fitness centre that has become a hub for youth and adults in the local community. It is relieving stress, helping young people grow stronger physically and mentally, and bringing the whole community together in a profound and lasting way. This is in addition to being a temporary foster parent in the community, including to some of her students,” organisers added.
A proud Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, congratulated MacDonnell, on behalf of all Canadians, for winning the Global Teacher Prize 2017.
Trudeau said, “You chose to teach at the Ikusik School in Salluit, a remote village in the Canadian Arctic. There are no roads to Salluit – it is only accessible by air and it gets cold, really cold, minus 20C this time of year.
“I’d like to say thank you to every teacher out there. Teachers owe responsibilities to many people – to students, to parents, to the community, the school board. But in the end, as all great teachers know, they are ultimately responsible to something far greater. They are responsible to the future, and for the world that will be shaped by the children they teach.”
Speaking after receiving the award, MacDonnell invited one of her students present at the ceremony to the podium, saying the award belonged to the students. “I have won this not for them but with them,” she said.
Stating that teachers mattered, she noted that the nomination process for the Prize created a means for teachers across the world to feel valued and revitalised, and to have their professional commitment validated.
After completing her Masters degree, MacDonnell sought opportunities to teach indigenous communities in Canada and, for the last six years, has been a teacher in the Canadian Arctic in communities dealing with suicide crisis at the moment.
In winter, temperatures are minus 25C. There were six suicides in 2015, all affecting young males between the ages of 18 and 25. Due to the harsh conditions, teacher turnover is said to be high, serving as a significant barrier to education in the Arctic.
There are also tremendous gender issues in the Innuit region of Nunavik where teenage pregnancies are reported to be common and gender roles often burdening young girls with large domestic duties.
As a result of high deprivation, isolation and limited resources in the communities, teenagers also often turn to drinking, smoking, drugs and self-harm as forms of escape and release.
After the award, Sunny Varkey congratulated MacDonnell for winning the Global Teacher Prize 2017 from such a huge number of talented and dedicated teachers.
He expressed the hope that her story will inspire those looking to enter the teaching profession and also shine the spotlight on the incredible work teachers do all over the world every day.
On his part, Prince Harry, brother to the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, while congratulating MacDonnell, paid tribute to the work of teachers around the world.
“In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, the very best teachers go beyond the pages of textbooks to teach young people about determination, aspiration, resilience and compassion. We will all face setbacks and challenges in our lives and our teachers play a vital role in preparing us for these ups and downs,” Prince Harry said.
Michael Wamaya, a dance teacher from Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya, who runs a ballet school in the heart of the notorious Kibera slum, home to 700,000 people, was the only African that made the final shortlist of 10 teachers.
The other eight finalists for this year’s award included Raymond Chambers from the United Kingdom; Salima Begum, Pakistan; David Calle, Spain; Wemerson da Silva Nogueira, Brazil; Marie-Christine Ghanbari Jahromi, Germany; Tracy-Ann Hall, Jamaica; Yang Boya, China; and Ken Silburn, Australia.
Now in its third year, the Global Teacher Prize was set up to recognize one exceptional teacher who has made outstanding contribution to the profession as well as to spotlight the important role teachers play in society.
By unearthing thousands of stories of heroes that have transformed young people’s lives, the prize hopes to bring to life the exceptional work of millions of teachers all over the world.
Nancie Atwell of the USA and Palestinian teacher, Hanan Al Hroub had won the maiden and second editions of the prize respectively.
