Thank a Teacher Day 2025

A message from Professor Li Wei, IOE's Director and Dean

On behalf of the IOE, I am delighted to mark ‘Thank a Teacher Day’ this 18th June.

The day celebrates the amazing work of teachers and support staff across early years settings, schools and colleges.

Each year at the IOE we educate over 800 new teachers and support the professional development of tens of thousands more teachers, technicians and teaching assistants. We are incredibly proud to do so.

We see first-hand the energy, dedication and care these professionals bring to their work: helping students grasp the curriculum, discover their interests and talents, and grow as citizens. Vital to that are the many other members of the education workforce, from caretakers to librarians.

Very simply, the importance of these roles cannot be overstated, coalescing to support children and young people’s academic and personal development, inspiring them, encouraging them, instilling confidence, enabling them to flourish, to build fulfilling lives and to make a positive contribution to our society.

From IOE: Thank You!

Bridging worlds and thanking teachers

A message from Dr Jasper Green, Head of Initial Teacher Education and Associate Professor (Teaching) at IOE

Today is National Thank a Teacher Day – an annual celebration of the education community across the country.

Here at the IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, there are many people that I want to thank, from mentors working in our partnership schools, colleges and nurseries to our own student teachers and teacher educators, as well as colleagues in professional services and support roles.

This national celebration is a time to remember individual teachers who have made an impact on our own lives. It is also an opportunity to reflect on what exactly we are thanking teachers for. The answers to this question will, of course, be deeply personal and may involve memories of academic achievements, feelings of success or a teacher who believed in you.

Teachers are teachers of something. They introduce their students to new concepts, practices and ideas – a fascinating world of the subject. Each subject offers young people (and adults) new perspectives. In my subject, which is science, this could include the theory of evolution or the concept of evidence. New perspectives, or at least their building blocks, are set out in the contents of the curriculum. Together, these ideas comprise a world of specialised knowledge and ways of knowing, with each subject offering something distinct to students’ education.

There is also the world of the learner; a world rooted in individual experiences, interests, and friendships, as well as emotions such as anxiety, wonder or surprise. At times, these two worlds (the everyday and the subject) appear to have little to say to each other. Indeed, ideas located in our everyday life often seem contradictory to the ideas that come from the subject. On the one end of this spectrum there are rules, conventions and abstractions (the subject) and on the other exists familiarity, common sense and the individual self (the everyday). This disconnect is one reason why learning can feel confusing and irrelevant to students, at times.

Teachers have managed to bridge this divide thanks to the teachers that have taught them. For them, the world of the subject now connects to the world of the everyday to the extent that both worlds – or perspectives – now coexist. This is why you may find science teachers sipping from Periodic table cups at home or music teachers collecting unusual instruments in their spare time.

Teachers now play their crucial role in helping their students to bridge the divide between the subject and the everyday, just as their teachers once did for them. Through explaining, questioning, revealing and inspiring they help their students to move between these two worlds, taking ideas from each world into the other as they learn. The real joy of education then comes when the ideas of the subject transform the experiences, imaginings and actions of our everyday – and vice versa. Frying eggs in the morning becomes an opportunity to inquire about protein denaturation and knowledge of cosmic origins transforms the night sky.

This is what I want to thank my teacher for.

A letter from Hans Svennevig, Lecturer (Teaching) in Citizenship Education and Subject Leader of Citizenship PGCE

Dear Mr Hagyard,

I haven't written to you for a few years. I remember so clearly the last letter.

I always looked forward to our correspondence. 40 years, since I was first in Primary School, in York and then learning English, learning kindness, compassion and encouraged at every step.

It was a joy to see you a few times over the years, it was so sad to say goodbye.

I am so grateful for your wisdom. I will remember you and talk about you for the rest of my life.

The best Headteacher ever, thank you. Always, Hans.

A letter from Dr Sinéad Harmey, Associate Professor at IOE

Thank you Professor Emily Rodgers for teaching me:

• That sometimes you have to take the leap without knowing the answer (and encouraging me to do so.)
• How to be a researcher :)

Sinéad

A letter from Dr Jennifer Chung, Lecturer (Teaching) at IOE

Dear Mr McAlpin,

Thank you for inspiring me to love the Spanish language. I always looked forward to class. You always made Spanish so fun. I hope you would be proud of the person I have become.

I will always miss you.

All the best,

Jennifer

A letter from Mehrunissa Shah, Subject Leader of English and English with Drama PGCE

Mrs Clarke:
For introducing a 9-year-old me to The Taming of the Shrew, and thoroughly sabotaging my later teenage understanding of romantic heroism. (No, never was I serenaded by a Heath Ledger equivalent.)

Miss Roberts:

For weaponising my irritating habit of reading ahead into opportunities for screenwriting. And for teaching us early that 'latte-drinker' was the perfect shorthand for middle-class pretension.

Mrs Mallinson:

For calmly dismissing an entire grammar page on my exam because assessments aren't about ticking boxes, and good writing always matters more.

Dr Lucy Munroe:

Early modern theatre, obscure pop culture fixations, political provocations: you ruthlessly ruined any chance of a sensible career choice, and I'm genuinely grateful.

Professor John Yandell:

For teaching me that truly good lessons in the classroom, leadership, and writing ruin comfortable assumptions (usually mine). Thanks for being irritatingly right so often.

Mehrunissa Shah (she, her)