NTFS Individual 2010
Awards Guidelines
Background
1. The individual awards of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) 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.
2. The Higher Education Academy (the Academy) is organising and running the individual strand
under the direction of the NTFS Individual Advisory Panel which oversees the criteria,
assessment, and selection for the individual strand.
3. Up to fifty individual awards of £10,000 will be made in 2010 to recognise individual excellence.
The award is intended for NT Fellows’ professional development in teaching and learning or
aspects of pedagogy. Nominees will be informed of the results in June 2010 and NT
Fellowships awarded at a gala dinner in September 2010. National Teaching Fellows are
eligible to participate in any bid for the NTFS Projects strand. NT Fellows will also become
members of the Association of National Teaching Fel ows.
4. Detailed guidelines for nomination and for the preparation and submission of nominations for
the individual awards are provided on the following pages.
5. Further details of both strands of the Scheme and Association of National Teaching Fellows
are available at www.heacademy.ac.uk/ntfs.
Guidelines for nomination and selection
Eligibility
6. The Scheme is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the
Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI). As such, all Higher
Education (HE) institutions in England and Northern Ireland are eligible for the Scheme.
Further Education (FE) institutions which have 100 or more ‘full-time equivalent’ students on
higher education programmes directly funded by HEFCE are also eligible. A full list of
institutions eligible to nominate for the scheme in 2010 can be found at:
www.heacademy.ac.uk/ntfsindividual.
Nomination process
7. HE and FE institutions are invited to nominate up to three individual members of staff who can
demonstrate excellence in supporting the student learning experience in higher and further
education. There are no categories of nomination and no minimum experience requirements.
Institutions are encouraged to consider the full diversity of roles that support the student
learning experience in determining their nominees. It is for institutions and their nominees to
identify and demonstrate evidence of excellence in the context of the institution, academic or
professional specialism and the nominees’ opportunities to make an impact on student
learning.
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8. The Scheme encourages nominations from individuals at any stage of their career and fulfilling
any role in an eligible HE and FE institutions. The NTFS welcomes nominations from as broad
and diverse a range of nominees, institutions as possible. The Academy is committed to equal
opportunities to ensure that no one is treated less favourably than another on the grounds of
gender, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religious or political beliefs, disability, marital
status, social background, family circumstance, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, spent
criminal convictions, age, or for any other unlawful reason.
Selection Criteria
9. All nominees will be assessed on evidence provided in the core nomination documents
in relation to each of the three criteria listed below.
Please note that:
a) Nominees should address and make a claim for each criterion fully and in turn.
b) Each of the three criteria below wil be given equal consideration in the assessment
process.
c) Nominees should not feel limited by the illustrative examples below. The examples
are intended to provide indicative areas of evidence for each criterion.
d) It is the intention of the Scheme to recognise impact and engagement beyond a
nominee’s immediate academic or professional role.
e) Opportunity to contribute wil be taken into account and therefore should be made
explicit. For example a nominee may have made a significant contribution to learning
and teaching in an area that falls outside their substantive institutional role.
Criterion 1
Individual excellence: evidence of promoting and transforming the student learning
experience.
For example by: arousing curiosity to stimulate and inspire learning, organising and
presenting resources cogently and imaginatively, recognising and supporting diversity of
student learning needs, drawing upon the results of relevant research, scholarship and
professional practice, engaging with and contributing to the established literature or the
nominee’s own evidence base.
Criterion 2
Raising the profile of excellence: evidence of supporting colleagues and influencing
support for student learning in (and, if appropriate, beyond) the nominee’s
institution, through demonstrating impact and engagement beyond the nominee’s
immediate academic or professional role.
For example by: contributing to the development of colleagues in promoting student
learning, contributing to departmental/faculty/institutional/national initiatives to facilitate
student learning, contributing to and/or supporting meaningful and positive change with
respect to pedagogic practice, policy and/or procedure.
Criterion 3
Developing excellence: the nominee’s commitment to her/his ongoing professional
development with regard to teaching and learning and/or learning support.
For example by: ongoing review and enhancement of individual practice, engaging in
professional development activities, engagement in the review and enhancement of
individual practice, contributing to improvements in the student learning experience.
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Assessment Process
10.
Nominations wil be considered by two independent external peer reviewers who wil judge
nominations on the information submitted against the three headline criteria. No other
information will be taken into consideration.
11.
The Academy will allocate two reviewers using the assessment categories (see section 2 of
the application form) provided by the nominee. The reviewers will submit their assessment
ratings and comments to the NTFS Individual Advisory Panel.
12.
The reviewers will rate each of the criteria using the following grade descriptors:
Each of the criteria wil be equally weighted within the assessment process. A score must
be entered for each of the three criteria in section two of the Assessment Template
according to the following grade descriptors:
Alpha One
The application meets the criterion in full, in explicit and relevant ways and in a wide range
of contexts, commensurate with the applicant’s role/opportunity to contribute to learning
and teaching and/or pedagogic practice or policy. The application demonstrates an
outstanding contribution which has transformed student learning. The work of this
individual, as presented in the application, has significantly raised the profile and/or
standard of learning and teaching and demonstrates the potential to do so in the future.
The evidence provided toward this criterion is commensurate with that expected of a
National Teaching Fellow.
Alpha Two
The application meets the criterion in full, in explicit and relevant ways and in a reasonable
range of contexts in light of their role/opportunity to contribute to learning and teaching
and/or pedagogic practice or policy. The application demonstrates an outstanding
contribution to student learning. The work of this individual, as presented in the
application, has raised the profile and/or standard of learning and teaching and
demonstrates the potential to do so in the future. The evidence provided toward this
criterion is commensurate with that expected of a National Teaching Fellow.
Alpha Three
The application meets the criterion in full, in explicit and relevant ways but in a limited
range of contexts in light of their role/opportunity to contribute to learning and teaching
and/or pedagogic practice or policy. The application demonstrates an outstanding
contribution to student learning. The work of this individual, as presented in the
application, has to some extent raised the profile and/or standard of learning and teaching
and also demonstrates the potential to do so in the future. The evidence provided toward
this criterion is commensurate with that expected of a National Teaching Fellow.
Beta One
The application demonstrates substantial but not complete fulfilment of the criterion.
Some explicit and relevant examples are provided. In light of the applicant’s
role/opportunity to contribute to learning and teaching and/or pedagogic practice or policy,
there is insufficient evidence provided to fulfil the criterion and the examples provided
could be more wide-ranging. The application demonstrates that the individual’s work has
raised the profile and/or standard of learning and teaching to some extent and clearly
shows the potential to do so in the future.
Beta Two
The application demonstrates some fulfilment of the criterion. Some explicit examples are
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provided but these are not always sufficiently relevant, substantial or wide-ranging. In light
of the applicant’s role/opportunity to contribute to learning and teaching and/or pedagogic
practice, there is insufficient evidence provided (in depth or breadth). The application
clearly demonstrates the potential to raise the profile and/or standard of learning and
teaching but does not show that this has yet been achieved.
Beta Three
The application demonstrates some fulfilment of the criterion. Few explicit examples are
provided and these are not always sufficiently relevant, substantial or wide-ranging. In light
of the applicant’s role/opportunity to contribute to learning and teaching and/or pedagogic
practice, there is insufficient evidence provided (in depth or breadth). The application
demonstrates some potential to raise the profile and/or standard of learning and teaching.
Gamma
The application does not demonstrate fulfilment of the criterion. There is little or no explicit
and/or relevant evidence provided and the evidence provided does not seem to reflect the
applicant’s role/opportunity to contribute to learning and teaching and/or pedagogic
practice. The evidence provided in this application is not commensurate with the standard
expected of a National Teaching Fellow.
13.
The Panel will make its selection on the basis of reviewers’ assessments and comments.
14.
The reviewers and the Panel wil not be permitted to consider nominations from their own
institution, or from any institution with which there may be a conflict of interest.
15.
The Panel’s decision is final.
Nomination instructions
Core nomination documents
16.
Nominations should comprise the following, each as a separate Word document
submitted electronically (please note maximum word/page lengths):
a) Signed Statement of Support from the institution’s senior manager (maximum two
A4 pages).
b) Claim for NT Fellowship: a statement of how the individual demonstrates excellence
relevant to each of the three headline individual award criteria (maximum 5000
words).
c) Brief Curriculum Vitae (maximum three A4 pages).
d) Application Form (for internal administration only) – available at
www.heacademy.ac.uk/ntfsindividual
17.
Nominees, institutions may find the following guidance helpful in compiling the nomination
documents:
a)
Statement of Support: The supporting statement from the institution’s senior
manager is an essential aspect of the nomination. It is recommended that the
nominee’s claim for NT Fellowship is read prior to composing the institutional
supporting statement. Although there is no standard form or structure to the
statement, it may be helpful to provide evaluative comments under the three
headline criteria (see section 9) with plausible evidence to support the
achievements stated in the nominee’s claim. In particular, the statement should:
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endorse the validity of the nominee’s claim for excellence;
provide an institutional context within which the nominee has been identified as
excellent;
provide any additional supporting information which might be most appropriately
expressed by an institutional representative rather than the nominee her/himself.
b)
Claim for NT Fellowship: Nominees are encouraged to present their excellence
claim against the three criteria (see section 9) with reference to examples of
supporting evidence, which may include (but need not be confined to): student
feedback and evaluations, feedback from peer observations, feedback from other
national engagements, student support materials and work with other partner
institutions, and organisations. The decision of what constitutes appropriate
evidence rests with the nominating institution and the individual nominee.
Individuals from various academic disciplines inevitably demonstrate different
writing and analytical styles and this wil be accounted for in the assessment
process. As such there is no ‘style of writing’ that is expected in applications and
examples wil be assessed and marked for their contribution to the headline criteria
as a whole.
c)
Curriculum Vitae: Nominees are advised to focus on their experience and outputs
with a view to demonstrating a robust commitment to enhancing and supporting
student learning and delivering or facilitating teaching excellence. Please note that
the formatting requirements apply to the CV.
d)
Application Form (for internal administration only): Nominees must submit an
application form with the above three nomination documents (i.e. Statement of
Support, Claim for NT Fellowship, and CV). The Application Form, available to
download at www.heacademy.ac.uk/ntfsindividual, contains information used for
internal administration purposes and wil not be sent to reviewers. All sections must
be completed in full.
Formatting requirements
18.
The three nomination documents (Statement of Support, Claim for NT Fellowship, and CV)
must adhere to al the following formatting requirements. Other formats wil not be
accepted.
Word limit / page lengths:
Statement of Support: maximum two A4 pages
Claim for NT Fellowship: maximum 5000 words
Curriculum Vitae : maximum three A4 pages
Font: Arial 11 point
Page orientation: A4 portrait only
Line spacing: 1.5 lines
Margins: 2cm minimum (not including footers)
Headers: Should contain the nominee’s full name and nominating institution only.
Footer: Should indicate “page x of y” only.
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19.
In addition to all the above, the Claim for NT Fellowship should adhere to the following
formatting requirements:
Included in word limit: All section headings, text within tables or diagrams, numerical
characters and any references will count towards the word limit.
Footnotes: Should not be used. References should be included in the body text or put as
endnotes, which should be added to the final word count.
Pictures: Should not contain any pictures.
Diagrams: Are permitted. Any text appearing within the diagram should be manually
counted and stated next to the diagram in brackets and added to the final word count.
Web links: Should only be used for reference. The content of web links will not be
considered in the nomination.
Final word count: The entire document should be highlighted and the word count tool
utilised, ensuring that the tick box "include footnotes and endnotes" is selected, to add up
all relevant free text. If any text is included in diagrams this should be added to the word
count total and the total sum should be stated at the end of the document. Headers and
footers are not counted.
20.
The NTFS Individual Advisory Panel supports a strict application of the above formatting
requirements to ensure fairness and consistency to all nominees. Any nominations failing
to adhere to these requirements will be automatically rejected after the nomination
deadline. It is therefore the responsibility of the nominating institution and individual
nominee to ensure that the nomination adheres to the requirements with regard to
formatting and word limit/page lengths. Reformatted rejected nominations will not be
accepted after the nomination deadline.
Additional documents
21.
Personal profiles and photographs (compulsory but not assessed): Following
submission of the core nomination documents, applicants must provide a 350 word
personal profile and at least three high quality photographs. Personal profiles wil not be
assessed as part of the application and as such, the deadline for their submission is after
the close of nominations. Please note that personal profiles and photographs are a
required component for a complete submission to the NTFS. Further information can
be found in the document ‘NTFS Individual 2010 Guidelines for Personal Profiles and
Photographs’ available to download at www.heacademy.ac.uk/ntfsindividual.
22.
Equal opportunity form: The Academy is committed to promoting equality and diversity
and wishes to collect data on nominees for statistical monitoring. We invite nominees to
submit an equal opportunity form, available on the Academy’s website at
www.heacademy.ac.uk/ntfsindividual. Equal opportunities forms should be sent
electronically to ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk by 12 noon Wednesday 3 February
2010 and will be treated in the strictest of confidence. Please note that equal opportunities
data is not used in the assessment or selection process for the NTFS.
Submission and receipt of nominations
Nomination documents should be submitted both electronically and in hard copies.
23.
The core nomination documents (see section 10) must be sent electronically, as Word
documents, by 12 noon Wednesday 3 February 2010 to
ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk, with the subject heading ‘Nomination for National
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Teaching Fellowship Scheme’. A separate electronic submission should be sent for each
nominee. Electronic signatures are not required on electronic submissions.
24.
Hard copies of the core nomination documents, including signatures, must be received by
the Academy by 12 noon Friday 5 February 2010. No additional material wil be
accepted. Hard copy documents should be addressed to:
Project Officer (NTFS Individual)
The Higher Education Academy
Innovation Way
York Science Park
Heslington
York
YO10 5BR
25.
Receipt of electronic nominations wil be acknowledged by email to the individual that
submitted the application. Please note that nominations wil be manual y checked to
ensure they meet formatting requirements before acknowledgement is sent If the individual
submitting the nomination does not receive an email within 48hrs of submission, they
should contact the NTFS team at ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk (Tel: 01904 717500).
26.
Personal profiles and photographs (see section 21) must be received by the Academy on a
CD or data-stick clearly stating the nominee’s name and institution by noon on
Wednesday 3 March 2010 and sent to the address stated above (section 24). Receipt of
the personal profiles and photographs will be acknowledged by email to the nominee. If
nominees do not receive an email within one week of submission, they should contact the
NTFS team at the above (section 25).
Outcomes and publicity
27.
All nominees wil be informed of the outcome via email on Wednesday 26 May 2010,
followed by confirmation letters. The latter will also be copied to senior representatives of
the nominating institution.
28.
Unsuccessful nominees wil be able to request copies of reviewers’ comments on their
individual application from the Academy at ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk. However, the
NTFS Individual Advisory Panel emphasises that the NTFS is a competition and reviewers’
comments arising from a particular annual cycle of the scheme are likely to be of limited
benefit thereafter.
29.
Attached to the confirmation email sent to successful nominees will be an electronic copy of
their edited personal profile for approval (see section 21 and 26). Any amendments must
be returned to the Academy by 12 noon on Wednesday 02 June 2010.
30.
The names of the Award winners will be officially announced in Thursday 24 June 2010
(tbc) on the Academy’s website www.heacademy.ac.uk/ntfs
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Awards ceremony and induction event
31.
The individual awards will be presented at a gala dinner at Middle Temple Hall in London,
to which successful nominees, their personal guest and a senior institutional representative
wil be invited. The new National Teaching Fellows will also be invited to an induction
event. Both are to be held in September 2010.
Deadline and assessment schedule
32.
The timetable for the submission and assessment process is as follows:
Wednesday 28 October 2010
Call for nominations and application form released.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010 (12:00 noon)
Deadline to receive electronic copies of core nomination documents and equal
opportunity forms from nominees.
Friday, 5 February 2010 (12:00 noon)
Deadline to receive hard copies of core nomination documents.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010 (12:00 noon)
Deadline to receive CD or data-stick containing personal profiles and digital
photographs.
Wednesday 26 May 2010
Nominees wil be informed of the outcome of their application via email, followed by
confirmation letters. The latter will also be copied to senior representatives of the
nominating institution.
Wednesday 2 June 2010 (12:00 noon)
Deadline for successful nominees to return any amendments to their personal
profiles.
Thursday, 24 June 2010 (tbc)
Announcement of Individual Awards 2010.
September 2010 (tbc)
NTFS Awards Ceremony
September 2010 (tbc)
NTFS Induction Event
Special requirements
33.
If you require these guidelines in an alternative format please contact the Project Officer
(NTFS Individual) at: mailto:ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk
34.
Nominees who are unable to submit a nomination in written format should contact the
Project Officer (NTFS Individual) as soon as possible to discuss an appropriate alternative
format.
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Checklist for nominees, institutions
Do the nomination documents meet the formatting and word/page length
requirements? Any nominations failing to adhere to all of the requirements will be
automatically rejected after the nomination deadline. Please note that this includes the
Statement of Support and the brief Curriculum Vitae (see section 18).
Are the nomination documents in ‘Word’ format?
Have all the sections in the ‘Application Form’ been completed in full, including
section 4, which is to be completed by a senior representative of the nominating
institution?
Have the electronic copies of the nomination documents been emailed to
ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk, with the subject heading ‘Nomination for National
Teaching Fellowship Scheme’ by 12:00 noon on Wednesday 3 February 2010?
Electronic signatures are not required on electronic submissions. (See section 23).
Statement of support
Claim for NT Fellowship
Curriculum vitae
Application form
Has the nominee sent an equal opportunity form to ntfsindividual@heacademy.ac.uk by
12:00 noon on Wednesday 3 February 2010? This information is extremely helpful for
statistical monitoring, particularly of the NTFS (see section 22).
Have the hard copies of the nomination documents (see bullet point list above), with
signatures on the statement of support and in the application form, been posted to
the Academy to arrive by Friday 5 February 2010? (See section 24).
Has a CD or data-stick containing the nominee’s personal profile and photographs
been posted to the Academy to arrive by 12:00 noon on Wednesday 3 March 2010?
This is a compulsory component of a complete submission to the NTFS (see section 21
and 26).
Has the nominee made arrangements to ensure access to her/his email on
Wednesday 26 May 2010 to check the confirmation message from the Academy on
the outcome of her/his application? Successful nominees wil need to return any
amendments to their personal profile, which wil be attached to the confirmation email, by
12:00 noon on Wednesday 2 June 2010 (see section 29).
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