National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS)

The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme recognises and rewards excellent learning and teaching and is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland (DELNI). It is open to all higher education institutions and further education colleges in England, Northern Ireland and Wales who have more than 100 FTE students and are funded by HEFCE, HEFCW, or DELNI.

Up to 55 awards of £10,000 are made to recognise individual excellence. The award is intended for National Teaching Fellows' professional development in teaching and learning or aspects of pedagogy.

NTFS 2013

The call for NTFS 2013 is now closed.

Please see the relevant documents for NTFS 2013 on the right hand side of this page. We have recently updated our webpages to provide a guide through the process of nomination to NTFS.  Please visit NTFS: A Guide to the Process and follow the relevant links. Nominations closed on Monday 4 March 2013 at 12 noon.

Minor changes have been made to the NTFS 2013 documentation and include:

  • changes to the ethnicity categories of the Equal Opportunities Form to align with those used by HESA
  • refinement of the statement of purpose for NTFS - see paragraph 1 of the Awards Guidelines
  • clarification of the eligibility of staff - see paragraph 9 of the Awards Guidelines
  • added references to inclusive and accessible practice  - see paragraph 11 and the examples under Criterion 1 of the Awards Guidelines
  • changing the request for the personal profile to 350 words - see Application Form and Guidelines for Personal Profiles and Photographs
  • changing the assessment categories on the Application Form to align with the new categories of the HEA
  • updating the list of eligible institutions - see Eligible Institutions document*
  • moving the announcement date of new NTFs forward by one month to June 27 2013

*Please note that this list is based on early forecasting for registration.  If your institution meets the threshold as stated on the Eligible Institutions document and is not on the list, please contact us as ntfssupport@heacademy.ac.uk

A document with the key dates is available to download below. Following feedback from the sector, we have moved forward the announcement of new National Teaching Fellows to June.

NTFS 2012 Review

Thank you to everyone who recently participated in the NTFS 2012 Review through surveys, focus groups, and interviews. The evaluation has demonstrated a great commitment to the NTFS and what it has achieved over the past thirteen years for both individuals and institutions.

We are pleased to announce that the report on the findings from the review, along with recommendations for future activity, is now published.  Please see here to download the documents and for further information about the review.

NTFS 2012

The National Teaching Fellows for 2012 were announced on 26 July 2012.  View the 2012 Fellows. 

The Award Ceremony was held on 10 October 2012 and here are some comments from some of the 2012 NTFs during the event.  View the Vodcast. 

The 'National Teaching Fellowship Scheme 2012' booklet, which is available for download here, provides information about each of the new NTFs:

An Overview Report has been produced which provides details of the key characteristics of successful nominations together with demographic data on this year's nominations.  The report also provides information about the assessment process and aspects of National Teaching Fellow's profiles.   

NTFS Reviewers

The HEA maintains a reviewer pool of external contacts that have expertise in discipline-specific or thematic areas and have applied to act as a reviewer for one or more of its activities. Reviewers are normally, but not exclusively, National Teaching Fellows or Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. Reviewers provide their time and expertise voluntarily. They are provided with guidance and advice from the NTFS team and asked to review multiple nominations. New reviewers to the Scheme are paired with more experienced reviewers where possible and the reviews are subject to a moderation process to ensure the robustness of the process overall. In 2012, 136 peer reviewers assessed 185 nominations to the NTFS. Reviewers were drawn from across the full range of the mission groups of eligible institutions and also include some individuals from outside England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Support for the NTFS

We provide support for individual National Teaching Fellows, project teams, and the Association of National Teaching Fellows, which facilitates networking and promotes innovative practice.

Projects strand

The NTFS Projects strand ran from 2007 to 2010 and was funded by HEFCE as part of its approach to teaching enhancement. Information on the NTFS Projects funded between 2007 and 2010, and related documents and reports can be found on the NTFS Projects dedicated web-pages.