The 2021 National Teaching Fellows and Collaborative Award For Teaching Excellence winners joined an online ceremony at the end of last week to celebrate their achievements.
2021 is the 21st year for the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and it surpassed 1,000 awardees when the awards were announced in August. Nominations for 2022 NTFS and CATE are now open.
The event included networking opportunities and discussion groups to talk about topics including, ‘Student Retention and Success’, ‘Education for sustainable development’ , and 'Mental wellbeing in higher education'.
In her address congratulating the awardees, Advance HE Chief Executive, Alison Johns, said, “Despite the obvious challenges over the past year and more, we received a huge number of nominations straddling the breadth of learning and teaching from across the four home nations for both category of awards. So your award is testament to the strength of your work when considered amongst such a strong pool of sector-wide expertise.”
She added, “As well as the individual awards, it’s also very gratifying to see the quality of teamwork represented this year – and the CATE awards really have become part of the sector landscape. We all know what a tough 18 months everybody has had and teamwork has been especially important during this time.
“And as we start the 2021-22 academic year in earnest, your leadership, your inspiration, your innovation, your resilience and your passion for teaching will become all the more important as we find our way out of social distancing to deliver an outstanding teaching and learning experience for students. There is, of course, no panacea or one-size-fits-all answer for teaching and learning in our richly diverse sector, and colleagues in higher education will look to you – NTFS and CATES – for your insights and expertise to help to identify ‘what works’ in their particular environment or context.”
Professor Becky Huxley-Binns, PVC Education, the University of Hull and the new Chair of the UK Teaching Excellence Awards Advisory Panel, added her congratulations, praising the outstanding achievement of each and every awardee.
An 'in-person' event to celebrate the achievements of both the 2020 and the 2021 awardees is planned for March 2022. Details will be announced in due course.
Nominations for 2021-22 NTFS and CATE are now open
The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) showcase the outstanding impact of individuals and teams who teach or support learning in UK higher education, recognising their success and providing a platform to share the learning from their practice. Advance HE member institutions benefit from free access to these awards.
Celebrating the 2021 Cohort - Images and comments from just some of the 2021 NTF and CATE cohort
Dr Ann Thanaraj: I’m responsible for leading the digital transformation of our learning and teaching at Teesside University. My goal is to help us achieve excellence in the ways we think about digitally transforming our curriculum across all subject disciplines. Being awarded a National Teaching Fellowship will allow me to help my academic colleagues at Teesside University, and across the sector as a whole, enabling us to deliver a transformative impact by equipping our students for successful careers in a variety of rapidly evolving professions and industries.”
Dr Lisa Taylor: “I was thrilled to receive the news of my National Teaching Fellowship. I have always worked part time at the University of East Anglia, but have been encouraged to take on leadership roles alongside my lecturing roles and responsibilities – firstly as Director of Employability for the School of Health Sciences and then as Associate Dean for Employability for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. I am passionate about learning innovations and employability. I have always endeavoured to maximise the impact of everything that I deliver within my roles, to have multiple benefits for students, academic colleagues and external partners. Being awarded my National Teaching Fellowship provides recognition and verification of my higher education experience and work to date, particularly around my employability leadership and the associated strategies, innovations and curriculum development, and their subsequent impact on student outcomes. My National Teaching Fellowship gives credibility to me as an individual to facilitate and influence quality student learning, continuing to support and develop the wider employability agenda, engaging with colleagues locally, nationally and internationally, impacting on student learning outcomes and experience, through teaching and strategic initiatives and innovations.”
Dr Pollyanna Magne: “NTFs are about having a sustained track record in making a difference through education, so I’m absolutely thrilled to have received the award. Whether it’s teaching a child to read and write, empowering people to apply to university, or working with new and experienced academics to enhance their teaching, it’s all about inspiring learning and transforming lives through education. It’s a real honour to be awarded an NTF for my contribution to this.”
David Smith, Head of the University’s School of Education TQFE/BAPD Team, University of Aberdeen's School of Education (CATE award), said, “The team's impact, both through widening access and international activity is clear - they are making a real difference to communities. The School of Education and I are proud of the team and celebrate this significant achievement with them.”
Anna-Wendy Stevenson, University of the Highlands and Islands Applied Music Team (CATE award), programme leader for the course, said: “Collaboration is central to all our lives - as educators and members of society - and is a core skill within our subject area of music. It is wonderful to celebrate our work with the prestigious collaborative award for teaching excellence and have our team recognised for their passion in developing and connecting the many communities we serve through higher education.”
Read more about this year’s NTF and CATE winners
