Daphne West has taught in schools and further education colleges; she was Head of Modern Languages at Sherborne School for Girls and Sevenoaks School, and Headmistress of the Maynard School in Exeter. In 1993 she was awarded the Pushkin Medal by the Pushkin Institute, Moscow, for contributions to the teaching of Russian. Now a freelance teacher and writer, her former Russian students include teachers of Russian in schools and universities, as well those who have made their careers in Russia working for businesses and charitable organisations. In January 2010 she became the editor of "Rusistika," the Russian journal of the Association of Language Learning.