Adnan Mahmood

Adnan is from an ethnic minority background and has experienced what it is like to have arbitrary obstacles to educational achievement. His aim is to change his pupils’ world in a positive way through teaching. From an early stage in college he volunteered to teach school pupils in vocational subjects. Part of his approach has been to try and incorporate an element of ‘magic’ in all his teaching, but also to stress the importance of developing the sorts of skills needed for success in life and business, integrating these with academic learning in the curriculum. This has included helping students compete in national competitions such as the Edge Challenge, where students learn how to develop and pitch business ideas: one team went to a skills show and won £5000 towards their idea.

Since starting his role in 2012 Adnan has seen his students’ results improve significantly. He has been awarded the VQ Teacher of the Year and the Pearson Silver award. Seeking to cultivate his students’ global awareness, he has also worked with the Pants to Poverty campaign to raise over £4000 through students selling fair-trade pants – winning the national competition and travelling to India as winners. His teaching always seeks to incorporate global awareness and multicultural themes.

If awarded the prize, Adnan would use the funds to set up a team of teachers nationally recognized to facilitate enterprise challenges within schools: this would including curriculum work, projects and trips to top businesses through partnerships.