At the time when history was thought to mean being able to name the kings and queens of England, he showed us how it was also about who and what we were ourselves. "Where did we come from?" "How did we get here?" "Who were our ancestors?"

Then he sent us off to research our family history. Suddenly history became alive for us. It was about real people, our ancestors — mostly ordinary people, but some of whom did great and unusual things. He also set out to teach us what was important in life, that you could fail exams but still succeed, and by not destroying our thirst for knowledge he made us realise that education is a process that never ends but continues throughout one’s life.

He was not appreciated by the authorities but he was a truly great teacher. I was reminded of all this because of the controversy going on in the West about the quality of our schools; the attitude of politicians to education and the violent and disruptive behaviour of young people in many a British school. It has become so bad that many a parent, anxious to find a decent school for their teenagers, are prepared to move house to another district which may or may not have a better school.

Recently one trainee teacher who had previously been a successful television script writer but wanted a more rewarding job, told this story of his early days in the classroom at two north London secondary schools. "A twelve year old girl is screaming, other kids in the classroom are filming the fight on their mobile phones. The hostility and aggression is tangible in the corridor and I am shaking with stress. Why on earth did I want to teach?"

He answered his own question. He says school children are what politicians aren’t — straightforward, open, honest, direct. He says that what they see as fake, they name. They aren’t stupid. "From what I have seen, they know that the grown-ups have run out of ideas." Politicians lie to them and the electorate. They pretend that they care about education but they do not.

However, miraculously, teachers step up to the plate and get on with it. Despite being overworked and underpaid, disrespected and undermined, teachers remain giants who are committed to the kids in their care.

Our trainee teacher lyrically tells why.

"It is the last day of term before Easter. I am standing in Year II assembly (16 year olds). When everyone is quiet, I spot a boy in the back, sitting alone, looking nervous. The teacher next to me whispers that this boy came to England from the Congo a year ago and didn’t speak a word of English. He is alone in the country. She says that the one person who stood by him and helped him not only with things to do with school but with his welfare out of school was his music teacher. 

"Today that music teacher is leaving and the boy is going to sing for her. This could be a disaster. He begins singing, his voice cracking with nerves. The kids start giggling, tittering, sniggering. But the kid keeps singing. He leans into the chorus and lets them have it. The staff are choked, the kids are floored. When the boy sings his last note the place erupts, and when the music teacher steps up and the ovation doesn’t stop, she is helpless. She simply says: "I love you." From the cheer she got, every single child she had taught knew that she loved them. She is a teacher and if I survive in the next few weeks I know it will be her example and the example of all the other teacher heroes that I’ve met that will keep me afloat. I may be tired, pale and ill but I will be among giants and for the moment I still hope to be one of them."

What an inspiring statement.

 Phillip Knightley is a London based journalist and commentator