A University of Sunderland lecturer has been named one of the best higher education teachers in the country.
A University of Sunderland lecturer has been named one of the best higher education teachers in the country.
Caroline Walker-Gleaves (pictured), a principal lecturer in the School of Education, is one of only 20 lecturers in the country to win a coveted National Teaching Fellowship Scheme award.
Caroline, who teaches Information Communication Technology and Technology Education, is to receive £50,000 to be used to fund projects that will make a significant contribution to learning and teaching at the University.
The fellowships have been awarded to both teaching staff and learning support staff in higher education in recognition of their outstanding contribution to teaching and learning together with their involvement in the development of best practice within their profession.
Colleagues and students from the University were invited to nominate one member of their staff for the award. A national panel of judges had the task of making the final selection from 86 applications nationally.
The criteria used by the institutions and judges to make their choices included: the nominees' ability to influence and inspire their students, to inspire their colleagues in their teaching and assessment practice and their ability to influence positively the teaching profession as a whole. Caroline shone in all these areas, said the judges.
She said: "I am really surprised but also really pleased." Asked why she thought she had won she added: "I care about everything I do with the students. I think about how best to have a relationship with them and how best to teach them. I think about that all the time. My students have said there is a meaning and purpose to everything we do. I really care about them and I love my subject."
George Shield, director of the School of Education, said: "In drafting a supporting statement for Caroline's application I rapidly realised that the list of superlatives I could use appeared to be so over-generous that they might appear unreal. I can, however, honestly say that I have received the most generous testimonials about her teaching performance that I have seen in my 40 years of teaching and educational management.
"One of the most inspiring aspects of her work is her ability to enthuse students and staff alike to do well and give them the confidence to try ideas and teaching methods beyond the mundane.
"On a personal level, as well as her abilities as a teacher and educationalist, she is a gifted physicist, engineer, linguist and musician. This very wide range of attributes does of course help her to provide such an inspirational performance as a teacher."
Caroline will use the money from the award to undertake a project, which will look at the best ways for teachers and students to interact.
She said: "It will seek to answer the question: How can purposeful classroom cultures and relationships be created so as to engage students fully and make them want to stay in higher education and succeed?"
The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme was set up by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment in Northern Ireland to raise the status of learning and teaching in higher education. It is managed by the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT), the professional body for all who teach and support learning in higher education in the UK. It aims to enhance the status of teaching, improve the experience of learning and support innovation in higher education.
Caroline will be presented with her prize at an awards dinner in London on July 10.