National recognition for Teesside lecturer

A prestigious National Teaching Fellowship has been awarded to Stewart Martin, a Principal Lecturer at the University.

The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme from the Higher Education Academy awards its fellowships in recognition of excellence in teaching. Only 50 fellowships are awarded to academics annually from universities in England and Northern Ireland and each recipient is awarded £10,000 to support their personal and professional development and research work.

Stewart, 61, is originally from Preston, Lancashire and now lives in Fishburn, Stockton-on-Tees. He first joined the University’s School of Social Sciences & Law as a Principal Lecturer and Head of its Education section in 2007 and is the eighth Teesside lecturer to be awarded the Fellowship since 2000.

A significant honour Stewart said: ‘I was extremely pleased to receive this Fellowship. It really is a very significant honour to be told by your peers that they think your work is important and significant enough to merit recognition in this way.

‘Awards like this are particularly gratifying, as we need to raise the recognition and status of teaching nationally.’

Stewart achieved his first degree in Education at Lancaster University, before embarking on a 30 year career as a secondary English literature teacher and later a Head Teacher.

When computers were introduced into schools in the early 1980s, he became a passionate advocate of their use in the classroom to assist in pupils’ learning. In 1984 Stewart and his business partner John Mahoney built upon this initiative by forming their own on-line computer software company. They were commissioned by Penguin and Letts to develop international literature study guides as computer packages and self-study books, which have exceeded sales of one million.

Ten years ago Stewart moved into higher education as a lecturer in education at the University of Durham, before moving to Teesside. He has recently been awarded British Council Funding under the Prime Minister’s initiative, researching how virtual environments such as Second Life can contribute to high quality teaching and learning. This involves collaboration with academic colleagues in two Japanese Universities, who will be coming to work with Stewart at the University later this year.

Showcasing the calibre of our staff Professor Graham Henderson, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, said: ‘I offer my personal congratulations to Stewart on his well-deserved National Teaching Fellowship.

‘To have eight members of our teaching staff receive this recognition showcases the calibre of our staff and the quality of teaching we offer to all our students at Teesside University.’

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