It was a piece of television gold that grabbed the hearts of the nation and attracted more than 10 million views on YouTube.
Inspired by the film The King’s Speech, teacher Mr Burton suggested pupil Musharaf “Mushy” Asghar put on a pair of headphones, listen to some music and then read out loud to help overcome his crippling stammer.
As the words flowed from Mushy’s mouth, social media went into meltdown and the clip from Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire entered the annals of the world’s great TV moments.
So it was no surprise that a sell-out crowd turned up to DMU’s Cultural Exchanges Festival to see the stars of the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning show.
Rush hour traffic on the M1 meant Matthew and Mushy were 20 minutes late, but, just like one of Mr Burton’s classes, the minute he walked through the door he had the audience in his hands, delivering a masterclass in daring to be different, without breaking into a sweat.
The advice came thick and fast and, like hungry students, dozens of people reached for their pens to note down each gem of advice offered in his power point masterclass.
“Teaching is a tough job for a reason. These are young people’s futures and you only have one shot.”
“Encourage, nurture, affect other staff, dare to be different and blaze a trail. Every teacher can be that teacher.”
“If the lesson is about a semi colon you have to be as passionate about that semi colon as anything else that you love in the world.”
“Every day things will go wrong, every day you will look daft and every day you may even feel you have let the kids down. But you will learn from it, and it will feed your vision - and practice makes perfect”.
“Be different – sometimes lightning might strike”
Mr Burton even shushed his stand-in pupils when they broke into groups to form opinions on how much a teacher can deliver in six hours a day (“How crucial is the other 18?”, he asked). And the jokes that interspersed his lesson had everyone in stitches.
Then Mr Burton handed over to Mushy to say a few words, joking that his star pupil could now read the Argos catalogue out loud and people would say it was brilliant.
You could have heard a pin drop as Mushy spoke slowly, visibly and audibly fighting his stammer with the odd “oh come on!” to push him through his pre-prepared iPhone notes.
He said: “I do not just see Mr Burton as a teacher but as a father figure. Educating Yorkshire was an amazing experience. I cannot thank Mr Burton enough, and everyone else who has supported me through this journey. It is a huge privilege to be standing here in front of all of you.”
The event had a huge effect on students in the audience, to the point that some were reconsidering their options.
Louisa Pomfret, second year Performing Arts, said: “It was inspirational. It has made me seriously consider looking at doing drama therapy. I love the idea of making a difference to someone’s life.”
Samantha Nicholls, also Performing Arts, added: “I need to rethink my options and maybe do something in education. It was that inspiring.”
After the event Mr Burton offered some advice to DMU students.
“There’s four things really. Work hard, respect everybody, ask questions and enjoy yourself.”
Like the class he had just given it was simple, to the point and effective.
Posted on Thursday 3 March 2016