National Teaching Fellowship Scheme
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The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS), which is administered by the Higher Education Academy, aims to celebrate individuals who make an outstanding impact on the student learning experience.
The Scheme consists of two strands: the Individual Award; and the Project strand.
The key points of the Individual Award strand are:
- There are NO categories as such - so institutions nominate up to three individuals 'who can demonstrate excellence in supporting the student learning experience in higher education'.
- Up to fifty awards of £10,000 are made to recognise and reward individual excellence, which may be used for personal development in learning and teaching. The Individual Awards aim to raise the profile of learning and teaching; recognise and celebrate individuals who make an outstanding impact on the student learning experience; and provide a national focus for institutional teaching and learning excellence schemes.
- Applications are in the form of a signed statement of support from the institution; a claim for the Fellowship (max 5000 words) and a brief CV (max 3 pages).
- The deadline for applications is normally the end of January / start of February each year.
Full information on NTFS Individual Awards can be found on the HE Academy website.
Who can apply?
In previous years, the University has run an open process by which all members of staff were able to apply to an internal panel to become one of the three members of staff who would apply for a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF).
The University has recently established a 'University Teaching Fellowship Scheme' in which it will award two fellowships per year through open competition to members of academic staff to facilitate their ability to spend a dedicated period of time (up to one year) on pedagogical research and disseminating innovative and high-quality teaching and learning practices at a national (or even international) level. These fellows will apply for a National Teaching Fellowship in the academic year following completion of their University Teaching Fellowship. The first fellowships will start in August 2010 so therefore the successful applicants will be expected to apply for a NTF in 2011/12.
In the meantime, for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 academic years, the University will invite the three winners of the University's Teaching and Learning Awards to apply for a National Teaching Fellowship.
Why apply?
- It is an opportunity to be recognised by the Faculty and the University for your contribution to learning, teaching or assessment.
- The scheme provides a personal reward that can be used to improve teaching; for example, a visit to another institution in the UK or overseas, the purchasing of hardware or software to support teaching, or even to buy out your time to develop new teaching practices.
- It will contribute to raising your profile for promotion.
- National Teaching Fellows are eligible to participate in bidding for the NTFS Projects strand.
Current National Teaching Fellows
- Professor Sarah Baillie from the School of Veterinary Sciences (2010)
- Mr Rogelio Vallejo from the Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (2006).
- Dr Dudley Shallcross from the School of Chemistry (2004).
Rogelio has kindly agreed that his application [word, 113kb] be made available. An associated document 'Coup de Theatre' is also available.
More information is available from the Higher Education Academy website or contact Mike White in the Education Support Unit.
The project strand presents opportunities for National Teaching Fellows to build on their current expertise and to submit bids for project funding via their institution. HEFCE has allocated £6 million for projects over three years. The key points of the Projects strand are:
- Institutions may apply for projects of up to three years duration. The HE Academy anticipates that funding of £150,000-£200,000 per project will enable it to achieve the desired level of impact.
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Bids should be aligned with at least one of the identified four themes:
- Learning and teaching, curriculum and student support
- Quality management and enhancement
- Assessment of student learning
- Academic leadership
- Project teams should include at least one National Teaching Fellow
- Each institution may submit only one project bid per year as a lead site
- Consortia bids with other institutions can be submitted, as long as one person involved in the bid is a National Teaching Fellow
- Stage one proposals consisting of a outline proposal between 1,000-2,000 words should be submitted to the HE Academy.
- Following approval of the outline proposal by the NTFS Project Advisory Panel, stage two bids should be expanded with more detailed information, to a maximum of 4,000 words, and submitted to the HE Academy.
For more information on the Projects strand of the Scheme please see the Higher Education Academy website or contact Mike White in the ESU.