National Teaching Fellowship for Keele Lecturer
Our students deserve the best possible learning experience and it is colleagues like those we celebrate today who can make a real difference to their futures.
Dr Jackie Waterfield, Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Rehabilitation at Keele University, has today (June 12) been named as one of 55 higher education staff who have been awarded National Teaching Fellowships, the most prestigious awards for excellence in higher education teaching and support for learning. She has been awarded the prestigious Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding contribution to teaching and student learning both at Keele and through her work with professional and regulatory bodies related to her discipline of Physiotherapy.
Successful nominees were nominated by their institutions and submissions had to show evidence of three key criteria: individual excellence, raising the profile of excellence and developing excellence.
The Higher Education Academy (HEA) announced that the successful National Teaching Fellows (NTFs) were chosen from over 180 nominations submitted by higher education institutions across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Each will receive an award of £10,000 which will be used to support their professional development in teaching and learning or aspects of pedagogy.
After a successful career as a physiotherapist, Dr Waterfield moved into higher education. Her principal interest is in the pedagogies related to professional development and the praxis of real-world learning and the classroom. To address this theory-practice gap, Jackie has utilised a range of innovative learning and teaching methods for healthcare practice students such as simulated patients, videoed assessments, practice-based portfolios and non-discipline-specific mentors, creating a learning environment that reflects the learner’s real professional life by being realistic and relevant, while meeting learning outcomes.
Keele University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Foskett, said: “These highly prestigious awards celebrate individuals who have made an outstanding impact in raising the quality of student learning and the profile of learning and teaching in higher education. We are delighted that Jackie has been successful in being awarded a National Teaching Fellowship.”
Jackie mainly teaches postgraduates but also contributes to foundation-year and undergraduate programmes, and a doctoral programme. Supporting learners as a tutor or a mentor is central to her philosophy of education.
Lifelong learning and continuing professional development (CPD) in the political and social context are a particular interest of Jackie’s, and her doctoral thesis and current research reflect this. In 2009 she was awarded the Jo Campling Memorial Prize by the Academy of Social Sciences for a paper in this area, and was awarded a Faculty Learning and Teaching Fellow secondment at Keele, during which she completed a project on portfolio development for HE staff. An area of personal CPD led to Jackie developing, with colleagues, the first fully online e-module within Keele.
Outside the University, Jackie works with professional and regulatory bodies to develop and promote an understanding of competence and good practice in the professional arena.
The scheme is funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland, and is open to staff whose teaching or support roles enhance the student learning experience at institutions in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Professor Stephanie Marshall, Chief Executive of the HEA, said: “It is always such an inspirational time as we welcome 55 outstanding teachers in higher education to our growing family of NTFs. This year is no exception. While their fields of expertise are many and varied, what they each hold in common is their commitment to learning and teaching, their dedication to their students, and their tenacity in sharing their expertise with others. What also strikes me about our National Teaching Fellows this year is their willingness to learn from others, showing us that learning is an ongoing process from which we can all benefit.
“Our students deserve the best possible learning experience and it is colleagues like those we celebrate today who can make a real difference to their futures. I congratulate all the successful Fellows and wish them every success in their own learning and teaching experiences.”