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DISCUSSIONS IN EDUCATION SERIESForewordCreating a national scheme, the NationalTeaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) thatrecognises and rewards teaching excellence,marked a significant policy shift in highereducation (HE) in England, around ten years ago.The competition has remained fierce, with atough grading scheme applied fairly butruthlessly to all applications that meet thescheme’s requirements and which go forwardfor consideration. The original award of £50 000for individuals meant a significant change incircumstances for individual award holders, manyof whom used the award to support researchand travel. The reduction of individual awards, in2006, to £10 000 has lessened opportunities forindividual award holders to travel and expandtheir international perspective on teaching andlearning – this at a time when HE needs a moreinternational perspective but when universities inthe UK risk becoming more insular, and wheresurvival and damage limitation are threatening todominate policy and practice.Staff in the education discipline were underrepresentedin the early years of the scheme. Inrecent years the proportion of Fellows fromwithin the discipline of education has steadilyincreased, although those teachingundergraduate level studies in further education(HE in FE) have struggled to gain Fellowships.The increasing numbers of award holders withan education specialism led to a decision in 2008by ESCalate staff to review the way it profilesFellows. This is a sensitive area. The award andrecognition are a personal acknowledgement ofexcellence. There is no requirement on Fellowsto do more, subsequent to receiving theiraward. Nevertheless, invitations by ESCalate toindividual Fellows to provide contact details anda public statement of their interests met withvery positive responses. Unsurprisingly, mostFellows are enthusiastic about sharing theirideas, and wish to promote excellence inteaching and research into student learning.4