Physics teacher praised for inspiring passion for the subject in young girls

Enthusiasm: Edith Goakes sparks “a sense of curiosity and wonder”
Handout/Institute of Physics
Anna Davis @_annadavis26 October 2018

An inspirational physics teacher has been awarded a prize for sparking an “unabashed passion” for the subject in girls. Edith Goakes, from Wimbledon High School, will receive a teacher of physics award from the Institute of Physics and £300.

She was praised for creating a sense of “curiosity and wonder” in pupils at the £18,000-a-year girls’ school.

Girls made up just 22 per cent of physics A-level entrants this year, making it the second least popular subject for females after computer science.

Jane Lunnon, head of Wimbledon High School, said: “I could not be more delighted for Edith and this award, which recognises the imagination and vitality of her department’s approach to teaching physics. We need to crash through the stereotypes and prejudice. Awards like this help us all to do that.”

Ms Goakes is one of seven teachers this year to receive the award for exceptional work teaching ­physics.

She led the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths initiative (Steam), to get departments to collaborate more and help girls to see themselves in a less pigeonholed way. She ran cross-departmental projects such as building prosthetic limbs with the design and technology department and simulating an earthquake with the geography department.

Her citation said: “Students are now making cross-discipline connections with a sense of curiosity and wonder.

“Edith ignites within the young women she teaches an unabashed passion for all things physics. Her teaching style, both energetic and inclusive, makes space within the classroom for independent intellectual discovery.”

Ms Goakes said: “I’m passionate about physics and delighted to get this award — but it’s the girls I teach who are outstanding — I love teaching them.”

Physics teacher Sam Skinner from the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial RC school in Holland Park will also be presented with an award. The Institute of Physics described him as “a driven and energetic physics teacher whose enthusiasm for physics is infectious”.

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