Never underestimate the power of a good teacher

On Sunday night, the UK came together to celebrate national darling Adele’s latest album, 30, on ITV’s An Audience With Adele. The London Palladium was filled with an audience of celebrities, including a drunkenly enthusiastic Emma Thompson, Gareth Southgate, Stormzy and Alan Carr. The true star of the show, however, was neither the singer nor her audience, but a surprise guest.

In a segment taking questions from the audience, Adele was asked if there was anyone in particular from her youth who had supported and inspired her. The pop star responded that her English teacher from her secondary school, Chestnut Grove in Balham, got her “really into literature” which helped inspire her songwriting today. “She was so bloody cool. So engaging, she really made us care and we knew she cared about us,” said Adele as a spotlight appeared in the audience and the teacher, Ms McDonald, made her way to the stage for a tearful reunion. 

Watching Ms McDonald tell Adele, “I’m so proud of you,” was a touching moment and a reminder of the difference a supportive and inspiring teacher can make to a person’s life.

If you asked me what was on the syllabus for my physics or maths GCSE, I would struggle to tell you. And yet, even from primary school, which I started almost two decades ago, I remember the teachers like it was yesterday. 

The supportive teacher is a recurring character across cinema and literature (Matlida, The Dead Poet’s Society, Half Nelson) and for good reason.  An Audience With Adele was followed by an outpouring of gratitude for viewers’ own teachers over the years. Like Adele, it was the English and Drama teachers at my school that encouraged my love of reading and writing and unwittingly led me to a career in journalism today. 

One of my standout memories from secondary school is an English lesson in year eight. Our teacher, a middle-aged man who, rather fittingly, wore large spectacles and looked like he spent most of his time in a second-hand book shop, was faced with the challenge of engaging thirteen-year-old girls with poetry. Initially distracted by doodling on our exercise books and reading messages on our flip phones under the table, the teacher suddenly took us all by surprise by choking up mid-poem. 

He explained how both his parents had passed away and that the poem helped him make sense of the feelings of grief that he had been experiencing. Suddenly the words on the page found new meaning and the second time he read the poem, there was not a dry eye in the room. My fellow pupils, who I was more accustomed to seeing giggling than speaking somberly, began to candidly share their own experiences with death and grief, immediately sounding ten years older than moments previously. 

Whilst I am sure whichever teacher received thirty teary-eyed teenage girls in the subsequent lesson was less than pleased with him, that moment is carved in my memory as the moment I began to understand the power and impact of the written word. It is a lesson I have never forgotten. 

For every positive experience, there are, of course, negative run-ins with teachers who dismiss or belittle you. I vividly remember one teacher telling me I have “wonky eyes” that would prohibit me from excelling in anything creative after an arts and craft lesson in Primary School (though I am terrible at drawing a straight line so in some ways she was just honest). But finding that one teacher who seems to identify potential in you can transform the school years into something more bearable. 

There has never been a better time to take a moment to show gratitude for the great teachers in the world, living through a pandemic and months of homeschooling has only highlighted their necessity. The smallest encouragement can change the course of a student’s life; teaching is the most important profession in the world. Without the teachers of today, we would not have the stars of tomorrow.