Member of the Society of Biology, Dr Richard Spencer CBiol MSB, is one of ten finalists in a global competition to find the world's best teacher.

Dr Spencer, a biology teacher from north-east England, was runner-up in the Society of Biology’s inaugural School Biology Teacher of the Year Award in 2013 and is now hoping to win the Global Teacher Prize. He is the only remaining UK teacher in the competition which will see the winner receive $1m.

Richard is a much respected and popular teacher with colleagues, students and educators alike. He believes that although biology lessons don’t have to be all singing, all dancing, they can be once in a while! In case study evidence submitted to the Society of Biology’s teacher award in 2013 he explained:

“The biology songs and dances I’ve created – a dozen or so - are a fusion of art and science. I started to write biology songs partly to help students remember complicated processes and partly because I realised that one of the challenges of biology is the number of new words students need to learn.

"Here are two examples: 'It had to be U, Uracil U' helps students name the nucleotides found in DNA and RNA, and “The Heart Song” helps students remember the direction of circulation through the heart.”

The Society of Biology would like to wish Dr Spencer well in this competition as it enters its final phase.