‘How do you respond when leaders opt for optimism, in order to skim over dealing with the real issues that your school and community are cultivating, because it is easier to deny they exist?’ What happens when positivity gets out of hand, and how can we best respond to those who refuse to acknowledge the bad times?

Two educators from the Philippines are in the running for teaching’s biggest prize after being selected as finalists from over 8000 nominations. Grade school teacher Michelle Rubio and Science teacher Bryant Acar have both made the top 50 for the US$1 million Global Teacher Prize – the only finalists from the Southeast Asia region.