For most teachers, a room full of rowdy kids is challenging enough. 

But for one deputy head, even entering a classroom can make him ill - by triggering a severe allergic reaction. 

Michael Steer, who featured in the documentary series Educating Yorkshire, is a maths teacher who abandoned a career in banking to educate Britain’s teenagers.

But the Channel 4 documentary star suffers from a mixture of severe skin conditions leaving him suffering painful reactions to dozens of classroom items.

He often has to wear gloves to teach at Thornhill Community Academy in a bid to avoid suffering an allergic reaction to red ink, smartboards, plastic chairs, computer screens, rulers, glue sticks, folders and marker pens.

The deputy head teacher, 36, battles sensitivity to potassium dichromate, eczema and dermatitis, and can see his hands and skin swell up and become raw after contact with the chemical.

Mr Steer said: ‘The three skin conditions essentially combine to create the perfect storm - meaning there’s a whole host of things in a classroom I’m allergic to.

‘I can’t hold stationery, can’t touch the board and can’t mark students’ work with red pens

‘Every day I wake up and go to work I’m walking into a giant death trap. I’m allergic to the whole school.’

Alongside his duty to introduce teenagers to trigonometry, Mr Steer works tirelessly to improve the school’s overall standards.

His workhorse attitude can often trigger reactions as stress can make him more prone to allergic reactions.

He has suffered painful reactions to potassium dichromate from an early age - something that has proved difficult to live with as the substance is found in thousands of products.

It is used in dyes and colourings, adhesives, mobile phones, colour photos, paper, paint, shoes, wood polish and soap.

And when he comes into contact with a product that contains the compound, his condition will immediately flare up.

Mr Steer said: ‘When I come into contact with the chemical my hands will balloon or sores will flare up, my knuckles will become stiff and tender to move.

‘It comes and goes, it gets better, and it gets worse. Being in a school environment there’s a lot of things I cannot use.

‘And if I do come into contact with something my body essentially attacks itself.