New National Teaching Fellow Graham Easton, Professor of Medical Education and Honorary Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at the Medical School at Queen Mary, University of London, shares the impact of the award and his advice for prospective NTFs.
Graham Easton is Professor of Medical Education and Honorary Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at the Medical School at Queen Mary, University of London. He successfully applied for a National Teaching Fellowship in 2024 and shares the impact in this video.
Impact
Graham says the NTF award gives him the confidence to drive forward his work on patient centred communication and on the use of narratives in higher medical education with even more conviction and energy. He says, “The process of going through the submission has made me clarify what my key values and drivers are, which underpin my education work and that really helps me to focus my future efforts in education.”
Validation
For both students and colleagues, Graham thinks the impact of the award provides validation. He says, “The emphasis we put on person centred communication in undergraduate medical education is not always sexy, if you like, when you’re dealing in hard science and medicine to talk about the softer skills of communication, but I think this award shows students that actually this is crucial. This is the glue that holds it all together and it’s important…
“These awards always reflect a lot of teamwork. I hope my colleagues will also recognise the validation that the award gives to our collective efforts to improve clinical communication between doctors and patients, promote empathy and promote the patient voice in undergraduate medical education.”
Five tips for prospective National Teaching Fellows
1. “Listen to your Teaching Excellence Awards Lead [TEAL]. I learned so much from colleagues at the Queen Mary Academy at Queen Mary University, London through this process. Not just about how to submit a meaningful application and gather evidence, but it’s really fed into how I think about my own education, my own practise. So listen to them. They’ve got a lot of experience.”
2. “Identify the golden thread, or the main theme or story that runs through all your teaching. This can take a bit more effort than you were thinking. It took me quite a long time to try and work out exactly where that golden thread lies. But once you’ve done it, it makes life so much easier.”
3. “Try not to cram in too many examples into your submission. Better to focus on fewer examples but in more depth so you’ve got real quality there; a real chance to show the impact and the value and the reach of your work.”
4. “Think very carefully about the evidence you provide around impact, reach and value. It seems to be best if you can provide a mix of qualitative evidence – student or colleague testimonials or impact on practise, and the quantitative – assessment scores, attendance listener, viewer figures. Not too much of one or the other.
“Be sure that you’re clear on what impact, reach and value really mean and how they’re different. That certainly took me a while to get straight, but worth the effort.”
5. “Try and avoid the cliches – words like passionate and so on, which I find very difficult to think of ways to capture how you feel about it when you are passionate, but it’s got to stand out from other people’s applications.”
Watch the video in full here.
Nominations for NTFS and CATE 2025 are now open
The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and the Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) proudly showcase the transformative impact of teaching in the UK higher education sector, celebrating excellence across individuals, teams and institutions. Entry to both programmes is free for Advance HE members.
