NTFS 2024: 'Celebrate the difference and let it help your application stand out’

What does being awarded a National Teaching Fellowship mean to you?  

It means a lot, and in part that is because I genuinely didn’t expect to receive this award. 

I have spent a lot of my career feeling a little like I sit on the periphery of what is accepted as ‘academic’ within academia. I have often found those who are uncomfortable with what I teach try to undermine me by accusing me of being “too activist” and “too political” in my work. However, teaching about health inequality and challenging the exclusion of marginalised communities from healthcare education and careers cannot ignore the sociopolitical climate. The National Teaching Fellowship is a significant validation of this work, and in many ways helps me feel not only like I belong in education, but safer to continue these projects.  

It’s also important to recognise that whilst I am personally delighted to receive this award, it reflects a huge amount of work that has been co-produced with students and the public. Without the knowledge, supervision and accountability of these groups I don’t believe my work would have been as impactful as it has been. So I want to express my gratitude to those students and community members who continue to shape my thinking and hold me accountable for the content I deliver. This is a lovely recognition that education focused on the needs of those most marginalised in society can be celebrated, and not just demonised online. 

What do you consider the impact of this recognition will be to yourself, your students and your colleagues? 

In medical education we often speak proudly about having ‘evidence-based curriculums’, but there is an unspoken issue related to this. We need to have honest conversations about what we qualify as evidence, who is allowed to contribute to that evidence base, and what resulting epistemology violence in health occurs because of these absences. We must ask the uncomfortable questions; who is excluded from healthcare education? Who is included in health research? And who healthcare education is designed for. It is much easier to dismiss and silence this discomfort when there is less recognition of impact and excellence.  

I am very lucky at Bristol Medical School that I am surrounded by supportive colleagues and students. However, advocating for the inclusion of communities historically excluded from higher education work can generate hostility, as the work is seen as a threat to a comfortable status quo. I hope this award will help those of us working in the field of healthcare justice education to demonstrate teaching which champions anti-racism, LGBTQ+ health and disability advocacy which are not ‘add-ons’ but vital to producing healthcare leaders of the future. 

This award creates space to celebrate teaching that empowers students to be change makers and challenge systemic inequalities and inequities. 

What, for you, epitomises teaching excellence? 

This is an easy question to answer. Teaching excellence should centre compassion and humanity. Too often in higher education the committees and paperwork of institutions creates a culture that lacks compassion and fails to recognise the humanity of students, of staff and of the public.  

We need to re-evaluate our approaches to teaching and remember that without these core values of humanity and compassion, innovative sustainable pedagogic practice cannot flourish. This treatment of colleagues and students with compassion includes the need to adapt to changing sociopolitical landscapes and taking responsibility for our own education to respect the identities of those around us.  

How do you plan to maximise the impact of your National Teaching Fellowship? 

I am answering these questions at a European medical education conference. Whilst I have been here I have met a range of inspiring people. In particular, I’ve met students from across the world striving for access to education in the face of oppression, and colleagues new to education who are desperate to make changes in systems which feel inflexible.  

I have always strived to be a role model to LGBTQ+ and disabled students, but the NTF has given me a new platform to provide support, mentorship and endorsement to colleagues. I look forward to connecting through NTF networks to explore how we can better recognise these challenges as a community and provide mentoring to create space for the next generation of educators to change the face of higher education globally.  

Recognition of teaching excellence only matters if we subsequently foster and improve on this excellence in the next generation so they may supersede our work with research and pedagogy that responds to the changing needs of populations and the planet.  

Do you have any advice for prospective NTFs? 

I didn’t think my work would fit within the NTF framework. I never thought someone who is as openly critical of the higher education status quo as myself, who is explicitly targeted for being openly queer and disabled, would find a place winning this award. If you also experience marginalisation or systemic violence, don’t let that stop you from applying. 

However, be aware that the application requires some quite intimate critical self-reflection. I found that uncomfortable, and extremely time consuming. Seek support and agree with your institution a plan to support you to have time to write and reflect.  

Don’t limit yourself to thinking of your impact and reach as only being peer reviewed publications. Journals are one way in which we convey knowledge and experience, but they are not the only medium that holds value. Think about creative and innovative ways to generate impact and reach.  

Celebrate the difference and let it help your application stand out.  

Finally, if you are applying for the scheme or simply reading this and thinking of doing it in the future; save your evidence. Emails students send you, examples of impact for projects, copies of quantitative evidence. Whether for the NTF, promotions or simply for your own wellbeing; even the smallest examples of student impact are to be held tight and celebrated.