This year’s 56 new National Teaching Fellows (NTFs) and the 15 winning teams of the Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence (CATE) came together online yesterday evening to celebrate their success in what is the 20th anniversary of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme.
The sense of achievement and celebration was as enthusiastic as ever, notwithstanding the online setting. As part of the celebrations, the winners joined a networking event exploring the dissemination of their work, future collaboration, and key themes such as: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), new online ideas for teaching and engagement, building Wellbeing for students, and progressing sustainability in higher education teaching in the climate change/ pandemic era: ‘what do universities do next?’.
The National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) Scheme celebrates and recognises individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and the teaching profession in higher education. The Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) recognises and rewards collaborative work that has had a demonstrable impact on teaching and learning, and highlights the key role of teamwork in higher education. (The 2020 NTF awardees and profiles are here; and the CATE winner profiles, here.)
In his speech congratulating the awardees, Professor Stephen May, Chairman of the Teaching Excellence Awards Advisory Panel, said, “All of you, as individuals and teams, have your own ways of expounding your truth, in your discipline or across a range of disciplines, feeding the desire of your learners to make meaning of their lives and achieve fulfilment.
“All of you are now acknowledged as ambassadors of teaching excellence, and I and my colleagues hope that in 2020 you will return to your institutions refreshed, to paint in some cases completely new canvases, keen to invent and promote new ways of providing high quality education. My congratulations to you all.”
Alison Johns, Advance HE Chief Executive, said, “Congratulations to all the awardees and winners. Despite the challenges the sector has faced due to COVID-19, we received applications for CATE and NTFS from across the four home nations, with more NTFS nominations in 2020 than last year, and our second highest number of NTFS applicants in recent years. This is testament to the strength of your award.
“The impact of the award winners on the higher education sector is as evident as ever this year, with a particular drive for impact demonstrated by our winners – and applicants – in championing equality, diversity and inclusivity within approaches to curriculum design, teaching delivery and collaborative working.
“It’s a great privilege for us to run these awards. As always, we are delighted to work with all NTFs and CATE winners, and that work will be all more important this year as we all respond to the challenges of working in socially-distanced environments and delivering a first-class blending teaching and learning experience for our students.”
Next year, Advance HE plans to host a celebratory dinner for both the 2021 and 2022 NTF and CATE winners.
Find out more about the National Teaching Fellowship Awards and the Collaborative Awards for Teaching Excellence.
In response to the impact of COVID-19 on opportunities for face-to-face learning, teaching and assessment on campus, blended, hybrid and online learning approaches, Advance HE has developed a suite of support for institutions including Active Digital Design and Teaching Skills Masterclasses. These aim to help institutions to develop curricula fit for the 'new normal' and to provide staff with the tools and skills to deliver teaching in this flexible environment.
Find out more about Advance HE’s Creating Socially Distanced Campuses and Education project including the final Capstone Report.
(These images were taken prior to lockdown and social distancing.)