Each year since 2000 the Higher Education Academy (HEA) has organised and managed the National Teaching Fellowship scheme. The purpose of the Scheme is to recognise, reward and celebrate individuals who are judged to make an outstanding impact on the student learning experience, and provide the means to develop a proactive community of National Teaching Fellows (NTFs). Each year universities and other providers are invited to nominate up to three candidates who are then invited to submit a claim for A Fellowship to the HEA.

In recent years the Association of National Teaching Fellows has organised a series of regional workshops designed to help nominees in that year to develop their claims and to introduce the scheme to intending applicants in future years. For the last two years the regional workshop in the north east has been hosted in Newcastle University and run by the President of the ANTF, Sally Brown and myself. The workshop this year was held in March. After a brief discussion of the benefits of the scheme for applicants the workshop went on to cover the criteria, how to address those criteria and how to frame a claim. It also covered how claims can be supported by evidence and what is needed to help a claim succeed. Finally, a range of practical and administrative issues were outlined.

Though the Higher Education Academy (HEA) organises and runs the Scheme its funding comes from elsewhere. Currently the funding comes from the Higher Education Funding Council for England the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and the Department for the Economy (DfE) Northern Ireland (now incorporating the responsibilities of DELNI). With the establishment of the Office for Students it is unclear where funding will come from in the future and though the expectation is that the Scheme will continue the Scheme is also undergoing a full review.

If anybody is interested in the Scheme and wishes to learn more, and assuming its continuance, the resources for the workshop will be found on the ERDP website, at the bottom of ‘useful links’.

Prof Steve McHanwell, Director ERDP