Lecturer wins National Teaching Award

Dr Tony Nicholson from the University of Teesside’s History Department is to receive £50,000 as the winner of a prestigious National Teaching Fellowship. This recognizes his outstanding contribution to excellence in teaching and learning, and is the fourth National Teaching Fellowship achieved by the University’s teaching staff.

Dr Nicholson is Principal Lecturer of History and University Teaching Fellow at the University.

His achievements range from work in collaboration with the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for History, to creating an online learning module in Local History. His involvement in the national Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded History 2000 Teaching and Learning Project is of particular merit and Tony has been requested to organise a North-East Regional Learning and Teaching Network including an annual conference.

He is one of 29 winners of the Experienced Staff category of National Teaching Fellowships, chosen from 91 nominations submitted by higher education institutions across England and Northern Ireland.

Tony said: “I’m really pleased and very flattered to have received this award. There are thousands of very able teachers in Higher Education who are doing great work in their fields, so it’s a real honour to be selected.

“As well as the personal recognition, it is a great recognition of the importance we attach to teaching in the University of Teesside.  My projects have been focussed on history, but the skills we are helping our students to develop are transferable and can be used in every area of life."

Dr Nicholson aims to spend the £50,000 award on a project comprising three main parts: the digitisation of local and regional texts as learning and teaching resources; the development of online learning; and the development of a Community Learning and Research Network.

A former secondary school English teacher, founder of an arts centre and postman, Tony has enjoyed a varied life outside the education world.  An interest in the history of his home village of Brotton, developed into an appreciation of history in a wider sense, and Tony was soon back in the classroom, but this time as student at the then Teesside Polytechnic.  Once his PhD (on the Cleveland ironstone communities) was completed, Tony worked as a museum curator while lecturing in the evenings at Teesside.

Established as full-time lecturer in 1991, Tony has found that both his professional experience as teacher and his personal experience as a mature student, has led to a strong belief in high teaching standards and widening participation in education. 

Outside of work, Tony gives talks to local history and community groups, enjoys cinema, walking and modern jazz and is married to Gill, a primary school teacher, with whom he has one son, 18 year old Bob.

The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS), now in its fifth year, recognises and rewards teachers or learning support staff in higher education for their excellence in teaching.   It is managed by the Higher Education Academy on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland, which fund the Scheme.

The winners will receive their awards from the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education, Alan Johnson, at a celebration dinner in London on 9 September 2004.

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