Two 'Teacher of the Year' awards, given by The Royal Society of Chemistry, have been won by staff at the University of Bristol.
The awards were presented by the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP, at the Parliamentary Links Day held in the House of Commons, which is the largest annual event held in parliament on science.
This double award in one institution is unique, since three of the four awards went to school teachers and only one to a lecturer in Higher Education. Dr Dudley Shallcross won the Higher Education Teaching Award and Tim Harrison won the Schools Education Award.
The reason that both awards can be claimed by the University is that school teacher Tim Harrison, from Rednock School, Dursley, has been appointed as Bristol ChemLabS Teacher Fellow in the University's School of Chemistry for the period 2005-6.
Tim will work with Dudley Shallcross in the University's Chemistry Department on a range of school projects such as 'Climate Change in the Classroom', which was recently given a commendation by Rolls Royce.
Dudley Shallcross said: "We are also trialling laboratory practicals that underpin secondary school Chemistry, but which cannot be done in schools either for safety or equipment reasons. Students from schools will be able to carry out a range of practicals in Bristol University's ChemLabs. For year 12 and 13 students these sessions can form part of their assessed 'A'-level practical work."
The Royal Society of Chemistry designed these 'Teacher of the Year' awards to recognise the hugely important roles played by all teachers, not just the lucky recipients.
The Royal Society of Chemistry hosts the Parliamentary Links Day each year, but invites representatives from the Institutes of Physics and Biology and the Royal Academy of Engineers. The theme of this year's Links Day was 'The science behind the G8 summit'.
Speakers during the day included the Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP, Right Honourable Hilary Benn, MP, (Secretary of State for International Development), Professor Sir David King (the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser) and Lord Sainsbury (Minister for Science and Innovation), as well as prominent figures from Parliament and from the scientific and engineering community. END