A Prize for the Changing World of Education

When Sunny Varkey launched the Global Teacher Prize in 2014, the idea was simple: find the best teacher in the world and give them US$1 million. Since Nancie Atwell became the first winner in 2015, the “Nobel of Teaching” has grown into the largest award of its kind, drawing tens of thousands of nominations from well over a hundred countries and putting names like Rouble Nagi, this year's winner, in front of a global audience.

The world of teaching has continued to evolve since 2014. Education is no longer confined to the four walls of a classroom. From schools and community spaces to digital platforms, educators are finding new ways to reach learners. In refugee camps and out-of-school settings, educators are creating pathways to learning for children who face barriers to accessing traditional schooling. As the Prize enters its next decade, its eligibility rules and judging criteria are being updated to reflect the evolving landscape of education.

Recognising excellence across more learning environments

Since its launch, the Prize has centred on the classroom teacher: someone teaching children face-to-face, for a minimum number of hours per week, with plans to stay in the profession. That description still sits at the heart of the Prize. The updated criteria recognise that, alongside these teachers, exceptional educators are making a profound impact in an increasingly diverse range of learning environments.

Under the updated eligibility, the Prize is now open to digital educators reaching ongoing groups of students through video or other published formats, and to the founders and leaders of education programmes — people whose role is designing and running structured learning for children, often through networks of centres, facilitators or volunteers across multiple learning environments. Teachers in refugee education and other non-formal settings are now explicitly included too.

Reflecting the many ways teachers create impact

The judging criteria have been adjusted to match. Evidence of impact can now come from platform data or independent testimony, not only classroom assessment. Recognition can come from the institutions and learning communities a digital educator works within, not only from schools. And a criterion on global citizenship has been extended to include the harder, more urgent skill of resolving conflict, not just being comfortable with difference.

The standards for excellence remain as high as ever — the updated criteria simply provide greater clarity on what exceptional teaching looks like across different educational contexts. What has evolved is our understanding of the many places and ways in which teaching can happen.

As the founding vision behind the Prize has always held, it exists to recognise excellent teaching wherever it is found. The Global Teacher Prize will continue to show the world that teachers matter — while recognising that the profession, and the ways children learn, look different today than they did in 2014.
 

The updated eligibility criteria and judging framework will apply from the 2027 Global Teacher Prize application and nomination cycle.