- Conference Speakers
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Topics:
- Motivation & Teamwork
Phil Beadle
Phil Beadle is a teacher and is an inspiration to all and is available for corporate and conference speaking engagements.
He was awarded 'Secondary School Teacher of the Year' in 2004 in the National Teaching Awards, writes regularly for the Guardian and was in the Channel 4 series The Unteachables.
Going from Strength to Strength
Phil gave an astonishing performance on the Teacher of the Year Awards by one of the winners involving motivated inner-city children, Eamonn Holmes and a balloon. Since then Beadle has gone from strength to strength, not only holding down his demanding job teaching English in inner-city London but also writing regularly for the Guardian, being featured in various media including a documentary on Teachers and also appearing in a Channel 4 television show with Ted Wragg called Class X where he works his magic on a group of disaffected young people for the camera.
There aren’t many teachers who end up with a review in the press, let alone comments like the following:
“You couldn't possibly call Beadle a traditionalist; there's not much that's back-to-basics about his approach. He is an innovator, unafraid of the modern.”
The Guardian
“Refuses to accept students' backgrounds as an excuse for underachievement.”
Evening Standard
“Mr Motivator”
The Scotsman
“An extraordinarily commanding teacher ... a late-starter to teaching who has become one of its finest practitioners. It would be hard not to be invigorated and inspired by his particular brand of teaching."
Teaching Awards Trust
“The climate for learning is infectious. A highly creative teacher of English and Drama, Philip connects with pupils by using visual, audio and kinetic stimulus material in unique ways.”
Teachers' TV
“He looks like a rock musician and is one of the very best teachers in the country.” John Humphrys
“Invigorating, inspiring and exceptional”
GTC Magazine
The Teaching Award Panel Members described being in Philip’s class as a privilege. They said, ‘The climate for learning is infectious. You can sense the atmosphere of anticipation, and it was only a lesson in punctuation! On entering the classroom students were confronted by a photograph of a male bald head with just two tufts of hair that, we soon discovered, were in the shape of a semi-colon. What a great way to start a grammar lesson.’
Philip brings the highest of expectations to every student he teaches. While almost all pupils at the school qualify for free meals, he will not accept students’ backgrounds as an excuse for underachievement. He has originated and taught successful modules on texts many teachers would argue as too difficult, for example Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Yet his class essay results on this novel outstripped expectations by two grades.
These exceptional results are quite common for this teacher of English, media and drama. In the past three years his pupils have averaged 98 per cent A-C grades in GCSE Language and Literature. Last year half his Year 11 class achieved grade A with the other half attaining grade B, a particularly outstanding achievement when you know this inner city school only recently emerged from special measures. Of the 50 A grades students attained in English over the past three years, 45 have been acquired under his tutelage. His results in drama and media studies, both of which he has taught outside of standard curriculum time, are also excellent.
Being Creative
Philip works in a highly creative way. This year he has two Year 8 classes both defined as comprising ‘under achieving boys’. To simulate their interest he has designed bespoke coursework that includes units on rap, football and girls, and he has even introduced them to new ways of learning about Shakespeare, one of which involved carrying pieces of foliage across the school field to re-enact Birman Wood moving to Dunsinane. He has also produced productions of Macbeth and a workshop on ‘The Tempest’ for feeder school pupils. Unsurprisingly Philip is an Advanced Skills Teacher and mentors and develops staff every half term, including newly qualified teachers and teachers trained overseas.
Philip is highly rated by his pupils, and these are some typical quotes from them:
‘Having him as an English teacher is inspirational’.
‘Being in his class is like playing at break time, you don’t notice that you are working’.
‘He seems to know what you are thinking and how to deal with it.’
