Teesside lecturer wins £50,000 for being a top teacher

Dr Patricia Egerton, Head of the Maths section at the University of Teesside, has been recognised as one of the top 20 University lecturers in the country and will be awarded £50,000 in the first National Teaching Fellowship Scheme on Wednesday (July 12).

She will be presented with the award by Education Minister, Baroness Tessa Blackstone, at a special ceremony in London (on July 12). Organised by the Institute of Learning and Teaching, the £1m Teaching Fellowship scheme recognises and promotes excellence in higher education teaching and student learning. Each of the three-year £50,000 Fellowships will be spent at the holder's discretion.

Dr Egerton, of the University's School of Computing & Mathematics, has taught at Teesside for 14 years. She said: "I am naturally delighted - not to say thrilled - because these National Teaching Fellowships give recognition to the quality of teaching in our universities.

"Mathematics is embedded at the heart of our culture, from time-keeping and calendars to business, trade and the new computerised technologies and my plans are to use the money for a project investigating how well we, in higher education, support students in learning mathematical subjects. Here, on Teesside, we teach Maths in a wide range of degrees and have students coming to us with a variety of entry qualifications, from a good A'level in Maths to a GCSE in the subject. My project will explore how successfully we are supporting students learning mathematics across different degrees, from computing to business and science, and compare and contrast the approaches and successes of different institutions in different countries."

Dr Egerton is married with two-grown-up children and lives in Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees. She was made one of the first of two University of Teesside Teaching Fellows in 1998 in an initiative which, in many ways, was a fore-runner of the national Institute of Learning and Teaching scheme.

The University of Teesside's Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Henderson, nominated her for one of the first 20 National Teaching Fellowships. He said: "Dr Egerton is clearly a teacher of the highest calibre. Student feedback is excellent, with comments such as 'she makes Mathematics come alive for me' being frequently made. We are all delighted that she has been chosen for one of the first 20 national fellowships and we are sure her project will help our understanding of the best way to approach student learning in this very important academic area."

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