Katja Battaglia 

Katja chose to be a teacher so that she could make a modest contribution to the construction of a better world, focusing on the history and culture of her local area in order to teach students the value of their community’s heritage and help them develop skills of active citizenship. For Katja, teaching is a journey that offers many opportunities to learn: her number one priority is to personalise the journey and help students understand that no one is good at everything.  

Today, Katja teaches at a small school in the mountain hinterland. In her 18 years of teaching, pedagogic experimentation has played an important role in improving literacy, conveying the art of public speaking and encouraging understanding. Katja focuses on creating engaging lessons that fascinate students and contribute to  effective learning, and she is continually improving her lesson plans and preparations. Her Creative Writing Laboratory has given birth to many productions and experiments as well as some remarkable student work, including a school newspaper and two e-books – The Fabulous World of Birds, which received an award from the Ornithological Association of Pescara, and Caramanico in Search of the Past, a book which ranked first in Abbateggio’s Majella Park Award. Over the years Katja has noticed that working with language in a playful manner brings positive results.  

The students in Katja’s classes rank above the national average in terms of results, and most of them have continued their studies at university, entering the world of work as doctors, teachers, psychologists, engineers, and doctors in law. In her school, Katja tries to promote democratic coexistence, carrying out educational projects for peace, the environment and sustainability: these are aimed at highlighting selected UN Sustainable Development Goals. For the last six years her school has recognised Katja as someone who is distinguished for the quality of their teaching, and she collaborates with all her colleagues to establish a climate of calm with students, administrators and parents. Most recently, she was a finalist for the Atlas Teacher Award 2023.  

If Katja wins the Global Teacher Prize, she would first use the prize funds to create scholarships for economically disadvantaged students and other deserving learners, and finance further studies of the history of the local territory. Second, she would build an innovative library that serves both scholars and children, as well as hosting book-reading events for younger people. Attached to the library would be a study centre that finances research and which would house the school museum. Finally, she would build a school in Burkina Faso paired with her school’s Comprehensive Institute to foster global citizenship.