Think you perform well in your teaching job in London? Want to prove it on a world stage?

A competition has been set up to help identify the world's best teacher and the lucky winner is set to land a $1 million (£620,000) prize.

The event will start next year and is being funded by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, United Arab Emirates vice-president and ruler of Dubai and the Varkey Gems Foundation, which is the charitable arm of an international chain of private schools and recently published a report into teacher status.

Sheikh Al Maktoum said he was backing the competition as teachers are the "real agents of change" and by supporting teachers and education, the award is helping humanity to progress.

Teachers hoping to showcase their credentials will be given further details of the criteria early next year and then nominations will be announced at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai during March.

So far, it is known that there will be nominations from individual countries and then candidates will be subjected to an international judging process that will include "former leaders from around the world and prominent members of the community" along with education experts and students.

Former US president Bill Clinton is honorary chairman of the foundation, which hopes to honour the teaching profession in the same way in which the Nobel prize recognises achievement in other fields.

The research the group conducted prior to the announcement of the award showed that there were wide variations in the amount of respect accorded to teachers across different regions of the world.

Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey GEMS Foundation, said: "We want to promote teachers as stars and to support the quality of education to highlight the enormous impact teachers have on our lives."

Do teachers need more recognition? Let us know your thoughts on the subject.