Gaining a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) is undoubtedly one of the hardest forms of recognition to achieve. Annually, hundreds of excellent educators apply for the accolade, but only a handful can be successful. This blog provides an insight into the internal processes provided to potential applicants at the University of Lincoln, specifically addressing how we encourage and support such innovative approaches to teaching and learning, whilst also focusing on how we take a realistic and grounded view, acknowledging the competitiveness of such awards. This blog also provides a lens by which we share our experiences as supporters and mentors, in an inspirational message to all interested in the process.
Contextually, at the University of Lincoln, we had what can only be described as an NTF drought. Professor Richard Keeble received the award in 2011 for outstanding contributions to teaching journalism, but we then had a dearth with attempts and had to wait until 2020 to receive the next, when Tracey White was successful for her contributions to distance learning pedagogies. So, what happened in between those dates?
