Last year, SHINE and the Times Educational Supplement launched Let Teachers SHINE – a national competition to find some of the country’s most innovative literacy and numeracy teachers. It was a huge success, with well over 100 entries producing 10 superb winners. So now we’re doing it again – and expanding the contest to include science as well.

Once again, Let Teachers SHINE is free to enter and open to any teacher working in England. Up to 10 winning projects will be chosen by a panel of judges from SHINE, the TES and Bloomberg, which this year has made a generous grant to fund winners that use technology in an exciting way. Each winner will receive funding of up to £15,000 to fund a year-long pilot project of their proposed scheme.

The inaugural competition focused solely on literacy and maths. We were delighted by the response and happily funded 10 superb ideas – you can read more about them here. This success has prompted us to improve the contest this year by expanding it to include a third essential subject – science.

If you’re already interested, then click here to download an application form. Alternatively, read on to find out more.

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What are we looking for?

We’re not saying – and that’s deliberate. Successful ideas could cover teaching resources, approaches, techniques and/or programmes. They might help groups of students, or individuals. Some might use technology; some might not. We’re very open minded and we’re interested to see what comes in.

However, all successful proposals will have some common features: clearly defined objectives, sensible and transparent budgets and the potential for future expansion. Most importantly, they must be innovative and they must target disadvantaged children. Click here to find out more.

How it works

The closing date for applications is midnight on Sunday 19th May. Shortlisted teachers will be invited to come to London to discuss their proposal in more detail with our judges, who will then choose up to 10 winning projects. Each one will receive up to £15,000 from SHINE, making a total potential prize pot of £150,000. You can download an application form here.

The money will fund a year-long pilot programme. This will enable you to show us that your idea successfully delivers measurable and meaningful improvements in your students’ attainment in literacy, numeracy and/or science.

To infinity – and beyond!

Obviously we’re hoping that some pilot schemes work so well that we continue funding those initiatives well into the future. To this end, we’ve joined forces up with the highly respected educational charity, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Come summer 2014, we will review the progress of all 10 winners; the most successful will be considered for continued funding from SHINE and Esmée Fairbairn to allow them to expand and develop in the years ahead.

Of course, for any of this to happen we need people to apply so, if you know a great teacher, please spread the word and/or circulate this leaflet. And if you’re a teacher yourself, then this is your chance to get your brilliant idea recognised, rewarded and put into practice. Good luck!