Jane Thomas

National Teaching Fellow 2012 Jane Thomas is Director of the institutional Learning & Teaching Academy at Swansea University (SALT) and institutional lead for Learning and Teaching. Jane is a qualified nurse, midwife and health visitor with extensive professional service prior to entering teaching where her career spans over 30 years, from practice teacher in the NHS, lecturing, programme management and Director of Quality in the College of Human and Health Sciences, and Deputy Head of College (Learning & Teaching) in addition to her role as Superintendent of Assessment for the University. She has worked across programmes, overseeing assessment, admissions and placements and chaired the learning and teaching, curriculum quality and admissions committees. In her senior role Jane managed the learning and teaching remit and professional body linkage for staff and programmes, internally and in relation to the institution and beyond. She then took a career change to work more closely with teachers and teaching innovation across the University. Engaging with the institutional agenda, enabling her to share and benefit from best practice, Jane is committed to pedagogical practice from strategy to delivery, developing students and teachers to their full potential. Her postgraduate teaching load aligns her to the student experience. Jane is a public health assessor with the United Kingdom Public Health Register (UKPHR), leading a postgraduate module in public health. Describing herself as having enjoyed a colourful career working with gifted teachers, innovative assessors and students who both inspire and engage, Jane firmly believes that lifelong learning is not just for students. She described the NTFS Award as "an absolute honour, enabling me to make innovative and creative developments which will not only benefit me, but my colleagues and my institution". Her NTF monies have been invested in exploring innovating approaches to teacher development, the notion of the Learning Teacher and developing the Teacher Voice at Swansea. Since receiving her NTF, Jane has become a Principal Fellow of the HEA, reflecting her strategic engagement with teaching and learning institutionally and beyond. She now works across Swansea University liaising with all colleges and service provision with the Learning & Teaching Academy team developing innovative teaching and assessment.