Make winners of class acts

What: The new National Teaching Fellowships Scheme is handing out Pounds 1 million to aid the efforts of Britain's best teachers. Why: Annual awards such as these are meant to raise teaching's profile in universities. Jennifer Currie asks if they do

HOW: Academia will be donning its glad rags in a few weeks when the results of the first National Teaching Fellowships Scheme are announced.

As part of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's attempts to redress the balance between teaching and research, Pounds 1 million has been set aside from its teaching quality enhancement fund to reward the sterling efforts of 20 academics who have "demonstrated excellence in teaching and support for learning". They will each receive Pounds 50,000 to be spent developing teaching and learning projects.

The polls have closed and, according to the Institute for Learning and Teaching, which is charged with administering the scheme, 95 eligible higher and further education institutions from England and Northern Ireland have nominated a member of staff for an award.

While nearly two-thirds of the nominees are male, the subject spread is surprisingly wide - including photography, Arabic and theatre - scotching early fears that education departments would dominate the proceedings.

How to award the best teachers in higher education does not seem to have flummoxed the ILT advisory panel, which drew up a list of qualities that constitutes a good teacher. "A nominee would not be expected to have all these characteristics," says Sally Brown, director of the ILT's membership services.

But the idea of 20 awards Oscar-style worries some educationists, such as Alan Jenkins, an educational developer at Oxford Brookes University, who believes it could let institutions off the hook. "Is it the gloss on the dross?" he asks. "But if it takes a national scheme to lever institutions into putting their own teaching and learning strategies into action, then so much the better."

Brown insists that the award ceremony in July will be far from Oscar-like. "They are only meant as a guideline to aid internal selection. We are not just looking for novelty for novelty's sake," she adds. "We want to hear about people with excellent track records who use innovative teaching methods."

In general terms then, an excellent teacher should be a reflective individual, capable of inspiring both their students and colleagues while making a contribution to the local community. Communication skills and effective management are also an advantage.

But Ranald Macdonald, associate head of Sheffield Hallam University's learning and teaching institute, finds fault with the drive to allocate awards for excellence on the character and performance of individual teachers.

"Have awards by all means, but let us recognise that much of the improvement in the student experience is brought about by teams and not just individuals. It is learning that is important and not a beauty parade of charismatic lecture-theatre performers who may entertain students for a short while but do not really know what a long-lasting impact this has."

"The effective learning environment contains a variety of dimensions contributing to the overall student experience, not all of which would be recognised at first sight under the term 'teaching'," Macdonald says.

As Britain lags behind countries such as the United States and Australia in terms of giving awards to its teachers, it could be argued that the NFTS should just be grasped as an opportunity long overdue.

"We have a genuine chance to promote and reward our lecturers," Brown agrees. "To be nominated is a great accolade in itself."

Research evidence has also shown that promoting excellent teachers is one of the best ways to improve the quality of teaching, so can anyone really argue against a scheme that offers to pump up the academic teaching profession to the tune of Pounds 1 million a year? "Teaching matters," Jenkins states. "But some staff feel that it doesn't really count for much in terms of promotion. We need to get mechanisms in place that will enable staff to apply for promotion on the basis of their teaching qualities."

Perhaps other institutions ought to follow the lead of the University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, which have run an Innovation in the Curriculum award scheme for the past eight years.

Catherine O'Connell, assistant director of Manchester's enterprise centre for learning and curriculum innovation, says that the scheme attracts up to 50 entries each year. The two winners receive Pounds 500 each, while the runners-up get a commendation certificate.

"We encourage colleagues to describe teaching and learning projects that can successfully be transferred to other subject areas and have found that it works very well," says Ms O'Connell.

"We plan to continue the awards despite the national scheme as we know that they have a positive effect," she adds.

If Hefce's teaching and learning strategy required institutions to promote quality teachers internally, the sector would benefit as a whole, according to Jenkins.

"We must recognise the work of individual teachers through promotion. The government can hold up big carrots because it wants to show us how much it cares about quality teaching and this may encourage people to take an interest on a grand scale, but the central responsibility for promoting excellent teaching must always lie with universities themselves."

SUSSEX SUPPORT

The University of Sussex has been rewarding teaching for four years. Unlike Manchester University's system, where candidates nominate themselves, Sussex asks its staff, students and alumni to vote for a deserving member of staff, although candidates can also put themselves forward.

Each of the three winners receives Pounds 1,000.

The teaching style of Rodney Hillman, a member of Sussex's English department, was singled out by one of his students. "The Rodney experience is like going to the gym. It will cause pain and fatigue despite the fact that it is healthy - but when it is over, you feel invigorated."

Jon Mitchell, a social anthropology lecturer, was praised for his curriculum development strategies, while James Peyton-Jones, a senior lecturer in computer and control engineering, was described as "best lecturer ever".

Bradford University also looks to its students to identify examples of excellent teaching in practice. An internal panel decides who should receive the Pounds 500 award.

Leeds Metropolitan University is introducing a chancellors's award scheme in September as part of a push to raise the profile of quality teaching.

Each faculty will be asked to nominate up to five candidates, and the winners will be expected to make a contribution to LMU's learning, teaching and assessment conference in the autumn.

The Pounds 1,000 winnings will be put towards funding travel, books and equipment associated with research.