Teach for Romania: Rural Teacher of the Year Gala 2023

Deadline: 15-Jan-23

The Teach for Romania is launching nominations for the second edition of the Rural Teacher of the Year Gala 2023, and is looking for teachers who manage to demonstrate that, no matter how great the challenges, high-quality education is possible in rural schools.

The “Rural Teacher of the Year” gala is the only event in Romania that highlights and celebrates the efforts and results of exceptional people working in rural education. Through this competition, they want to bring more visibility to teachers, teachers, educators from rural areas who believe in the potential of every child, who prepare and use all their creativity and resources to give them the chance for a better future through modern education, quality, relevant. People who can inspire and who change the face of the education system in Romania.

Categories

The nomination categories reflect the real challenges and critical needs of rural children:

• Preventing school dropout;
• Development of literacy (reading-writing skills);
• Development of socio-emotional skills;
• Leadership development in students;
• Involvement in the community.

Benefits

The winners of each category will be awarded with:

• A cash prize worth 1000 euros for projects in the school or community at the initiative of the winning teaching staff.
• They will give recognition, visibility and awards to winning teachers based on nominations made by students, faculty colleagues, parents, education professionals and other community members.

Why do they want to Award Teachers from the Rural Environment?

• In Romania, 1 out of 5 rural students drop out of school. Also 1 out of 5 students fails to get grade 5 in the National Assessment, twice as many as in the urban environment. Moreover, 6 out of 10 children from rural areas have difficulties in writing and reading at the end of primary school.
• However, there are rural children who manage to defy these statistics, children who have a quality education thanks to professional teachers, teachers, educators and school counselors. These teachers overcome the many challenges inherent in rural teaching – from the difficult commute and dozens of hours lost on the road each week, to the norms shared between 3 or even 4 small schools, to the different, larger needs of their students who sometimes depend solely on the people in the department to find their motivation and determination to give education a chance. These teachers prove that exceptional results can be achieved even in difficult conditions. That inequity can be addressed.
• These professionals deserve to come out of anonymity and their effort, dedication and perseverance deserve to be recognized.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any teaching staff (educator, teacher, teacher, school counselor) who is or has been employed in a rural school can be nominated.
• The nomination can be made by students, parents, other teaching staff, principals, school inspectors, representatives of entities active in the educational field (NGOs, media entities, public institutions, etc.).
• Self-nomination is not accepted.
• Identical forms (total or partial) will not enter the competition.
• Teachers who are or have been supported by Teach for Romania (participants or alumni of the Teach for Romania program) cannot be nominated.
• The winners of the previous editions of the Rural Teacher of the Year Gala can be nominated, but will not enter the judging stage of the competition.
• Nominations that refer to the activity of teaching staff from the previous school year (period September 2021 – August 2022) are eligible.

Evaluation Criteria

• Teaching staff can be nominated by students, parents, other staff teachers, directors, school inspectors, representatives of entities active in the educational field
• The nomination includes the full contact details of the person making the nomination and of the nominated teaching staff.
• Autominalization is not supported.
• The nomination refers to the activity of the teaching staff from the previous school year.
• The relevance of the chosen category, in correlation with the activities in which the teaching staff was involved.
• Compliance with the minimum character limit mentioned in the nomination form, for each field of it.

For more information, visit Teach for Romania.