The general election is over, Christmas is just around the corner and the long, unforgiving autumn term has finally been put to bed. It is, in other words, time to reveal the third ever Tes person of the year.

The idea remains the same as previous years: education is packed full of bright, committed, energetic people all striving to make a difference. And while there simply isn’t enough room here to recognise the crucial work of the hundreds of thousands of teachers who improve pupils’ lives every day, we can do something. So, today we bring you 10 people and groups of people whose efforts have often gone beyond what might be expected of their normal working lives, and who have made a difference to many, many learners as well as teachers in schools and colleges across the country.

Deciding on the Tes person of the year is, as ever, an entirely undemocratic and unscientific process. The judging panel is made up of our editors and section heads. And the final say, if needed, goes to the editor, Ann Mroz.

But we feel that this approach has, once again, produced a diverse list of people who have had a huge influence on your lives.

Tes person of the year: Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson

Birmingham head and equality campaigner Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson has been chosen as Tes person of the year for the way she has guided her school through an intensely challenging period, in the process becoming a leading voice in promoting the importance of equality and LGBT+ rights.

In March, Anderton Park Primary became the focal point of heated and long-running protests against teaching pupils about LGBT+ identities.

Hewitt-Clarkson’s desk is just metres from the spot where protestors denounced the school for up to an hour each day for the best part of nine weeks. “It was horrific,” she says. “It was just so loud - the whole school could hear it.”

Anderton Park was targeted after protests about the No Outsiders programme at nearby Parkfield Community School. Weeks of angry demonstrations escalated to the point where more than 200 people were gathered outside the gates.

Hewitt-Clarkson decided to take legal action. “We were at the limit of what staff could take,” she says.

Did she ever think about giving in? “No. Because how could I end it? By saying, ‘OK, I will never, ever say again that some people have two mummies’?

“I can’t do that. I simply cannot do that. I am a public servant and some people do have two mummies and under the Equality Act that is as equal as some people who have a mummy and a daddy.”

With the help of Birmingham City Council’s legal team, the school secured an injunction preventing protests outside its premises. After three hearings, most recently at the High Court last month, an exclusion zone remains in place.

Her leadership has won praise from across the sector, including a huge ovation at the NAHT headteachers’ union conference. “The reaction we got was quite overwhelming actually,” she recalls. “But every school leader who spoke to us had experienced something similar.”

Hewitt-Clarkson hopes that what happened will help the country to recognise the importance of equality and of an LGBT-inclusive education. “I am supremely proud of this school for how we dealt with it, the outcome of the court case and our part in that. But it has come at a cost,” she says.

Greta Thunberg: Climate activist

You would not usually expect a leading proponent of truancy to feature in an education-themed list of the people of the year.

But Greta Thunberg has changed the way people think about global warming, inspiring millions of pupils to join her.

And 2019 has undoubtedly been the 16-year-old climate change activist’s year. In March, more than 1.4 million young people walked out of lessons to make their voices heard as part of the Fridays for Future movement. In September, a series of global strikes across 1,500 locations involved more than 6 million people.

She has also been an inspiring figurehead for autistic children - Thunberg has Asperger syndrome, which she has credited as enabling her to “see through” the lies and obfuscation in discussions about climate change.

Thunberg has been a galvanising force of the environmental movement, inspiring millions of young people worldwide to challenge governmental apathy over global warming.

Abed Ahmed: Teacher and stammering awareness campaigner

“A phenomenal guy.” That’s how Tes Schools Awards judges described Abed Ahmed when they named him new teacher of the year.

And it is the maths teacher’s impressive determination, and his work to prevent stammering holding people back, that make him such an inspirational figure.

Ahmed (known on Twitter as @stammer_teacher) was once told that he could never become a teacher because of his stammer. But he has gone from strength to strength at Washwood Heath Academy in Birmingham.

He also runs support groups at local schools in which he helps young people with stammers to be more confident and to accept themselves.

“He helps them to become happy,” a friend of Ahmed says. “He acts a role model to these young people and does many fun, confidence-building activities.”

John Sweller: Academic

Has any academic been as influential in policymaking for England’s schools as John Sweller? This year, the Australian educational psychologist’s research has underpinned the Early Career Framework, the initial teacher training core content framework and Ofsted’s new inspection framework. It has given theoretical ballast to minister Nick Gibb’s argument that schools should move away from “child-centred” instruction. And it has become the marching song for many in the research-informed teacher movement.

Sweller is the man behind cognitive load theory, the idea that certain approaches can help teachers to avoid overloading (or, indeed, underloading) a pupil’s working memory. If we hit the right balance, so the theory goes, we can make sure children transfer more knowledge to long-term memory: they learn more.

The theory has attracted many supporters but has also been heavily criticised, not least by some teachers. Whether it will hold up against increased scrutiny next year is an interesting question - and a worrying one if you are in the Department for Education.

#BrewEd: Grassroots CPD organisation

The pub is a great British institution. For centuries, people have used it to get away from the daily grind, to enjoy a libation of their choosing and to put the world to rights with people who share their interests.

So, it’s astonishing that it took teachers until December 2017 to realise that it might be the perfect setting for a spot of CPD.

BrewEd was the brainchild of Ed Finch, a teacher at Larkrise Primary School in Oxford, and Daryn Egan-Simon, an academic, researcher and writer. They both enjoyed learning about the profession they loved, but wanted to do it in a more relaxed and informal setting.

The best thing about the movement is that it is truly grassroots - organised by teachers, for teachers. Fans of the concept have described it on Twitter as “like going to the pub with your ideal staffroom”.

Anyone fancy a pint?

Anne Longfield: Children’s commissioner for England

The role of children’s commissioner was created almost 15 years ago to promote the rights of young people. But in the past year, Anne Longfield has raised the profile of this office in a way that has not been done before by speaking out strongly on issues such as off-rolling, exclusions, isolation booths and the rise of home education.

At the beginning of the year, Longfield produced a report calling for the creation of a compulsory register of children who were being educated at home. She said the data showed that around one in 10 schools was off-rolling - or what she called “semi-off-rolling”. She has also described isolation booths as “intolerable”.

Longfield has established her office as an important voice in the education system, and she has been ready to challenge the government and those running schools when she feels children’s interests are not being looked after.

Kim Kardashian West: Reality TV star and apprentice

Kim Kardashian West is one of the most talked-about celebrities in the world, but it may be surprising to see her on this particular list. Rest assured, she is here on merit as an unlikely figurehead for a key plank of education: apprenticeships.

In April, at the age of 38, Kardashian West announced in a cover interview for Vogue that she had resumed her education by undertaking a four-year apprenticeship with a law firm based in San Francisco.

It would be easy to dismiss the move as a PR stunt. But, as part of her work with criminal justice reform organisation #cut50, Kardashian West has visited prisons and petitioned governors.

She is acting as a torchbearer for lifelong learning, for career changers and for high school graduates without a degree making the difficult decision to return to education.

Lauren Reid: GCSE resit student

Whether described as “setting students up to fail” or a “national scandal”, GCSE resits in English and maths remained one of the most controversial and emotive educational policies of 2019.

Many young people have faced repeated resits, including Lauren Reid. But the City College Plymouth student has a remarkable story.

In August, Reid found out that she had passed her maths GCSE on her ninth attempt. “There was a mix of feelings,” she said at the time. “There had been a grade 3 on the sheet every time and now there was a 4 … I went and found my teacher and we had a hug.”

Reid had previously considered giving up. Many of her peers would likely have done so. But she persevered - and went on to start a course at university this autumn. “Look at what I did with the little I was given. I have come through this now and I am not going to be stopped by anything,” she said.

Rebecca West: Beauty therapist and WorldSkills gold medallist

Rebecca West can’t remember the moment when she heard her name called out in front of 50,000 people in a packed football stadium.

“It was like I wasn’t there - it was just crazy. I really didn’t think I had won,” she said shortly after the closing ceremony of WorldSkills Kazan.

But win she did, beating rivals from China and South Korea to claim the gold medal in beauty therapy. Now, West has made it on to the list of Tes people of 2019, representing the 37 young women and men from the UK who competed with distinction at the biennial skills contest, vying with more than 1,300 participants from 62 other countries and regions.

West’s success was no flash in the pan. It all came down to four crucial days of competition in the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Centre - but this was the climax of years of hard graft.

Samantha Twiselton: Director of the Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University

A strong advocate for reviving the profession by investing in proper mentoring for all trainees, Samantha Twiselton is one of the most influential people in teacher education.

This well-respected teacher training leader is dedicated to improving the experience of trainees throughout their studies and into their early careers.

As director of the Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University and vice-president of the Chartered College of Teaching, Twiselton is no stranger to responsibility.

But she was under extra pressure this year when she was chosen to chair the Department for Education advisory panel tasked with refreshing the initial teacher training core content framework. She also helped to shape the government’s teacher recruitment and retention strategy and the Early Career Framework, published in January.

It was never going to be an easy feat, and Twiselton has inevitably has come in for criticism, but she has stood her ground.

This article originally appeared in the 20/27 December 2020 issue under the headline “Tes people of the year 2019”