Iain Palot has been awarded the chartered geographer status by the royal geographical society after teaching the subject for 40 years.

The accolade recognises outstanding teaching expertise, subject knowledge and that a teacher is sharing their expertise beyond their specific teaching responsibilities.

Mr Palot (61) said: “It is recognition by one’s fellow professionals and it gives you a nice warm feeling. The fact that it looks good on a CV does not apply to me.

“Teaching was a second thought for me, when I left school I did not know what to do. The job security and school holidays were dangled in front of me by my headmaster.

“I enjoy teaching and imparting knowledge to others. In the future I would like my students to do well and to achieve their goals.”

Mr Palot said he had no plans to stop teaching just yet and he was hoping to start up a West Sussex branch of the Geographical Association.

Steve Brace, head of education at the royal geographical society, said: “We are delighted to award chartered geographer (teacher) status to Iain.

“I hope his commitment to first-class teaching gives inspiration and encouragement to other local georgraphy teachers in the area to rise to the challenge of gaining chartered geographer teacher status themselves.”