Duo Receive National Teaching Fellow Awards
30 September 2010
Professor Dennis Hayes and Professor Barbara Dexter
The National Teaching Fellow winners, picture courtesy of the HEA.
Two members of staff at the University of Derby received top academic accolades at an awards ceremony in London last night.
Professor Dennis Hayes and Professor Barbara Dexter were among 50 National Teaching Fellows (NTF) announced by the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
They attended a special ceremony with other award winners at Middle Temple Hall in London. The awards celebrate the excellence of academic and learning support staff within higher education.
Speakers at last night's event included the HEA's Chief Executive Professor Craig Mahoney, National Union of Students' President Aaron Porter and Professor Shirley Pearce, CBE. Shirley is Vice-Chancellor at Loughborough University and Chair of the NTF national advisory panel.
At Derby, Professor Dennis Hayes is Professor of Education, and Head of the Research Centre for Education and Career Development.
He has taught in secondary schools, special schools, and in further and adult education institutions. This varied experience, coupled with his training in philosophy, has produced a unique approach to teaching that is student-centred but builds the intellectual potential of all students through criticism and challenge.
Dennis has built up a strong national profile debating education, with issues including the demise of academic freedom and criticising the rise of therapeutic education.
Part of his vision of teaching extends beyond the University campus and seeks to recreate public debate, and to reach a wider audience through the media and the web. Broadcaster and author, Libby Purves, said of Dennis that: "Education needs people like him. Badly!"
Dennis said: "I was honoured to receive this award, equivalent to that of 'Carnegie Scholar' in the USA, which is an international recognition that the University has teachers that are acknowledged as the amongst the most creative and innovative in the world."
Professor Barbara Dexter is a Professor of Personal and Organisational Development at Derby. She is also Acting Head in the Centre for Learning and Teaching, within the new Department of Learning, Enhancement and Innovation.
Barbara came to the University of Derby as a mature student in 1999, studying for a PhD, sponsored by the Institute of Leadership and Management. Within a few months she had taken on a full-time teaching and programme leadership role, building on ten years of teaching experience in further education. Her teaching draws on extensive personal and work experience including the civil service, IBM, accountancy, and voluntary work for The Prince's Trust. She qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant at the age of 40.
Barbara said: "I am thrilled to have gained this prestigious award and we had a wonderful celebratory evening, meeting other National Teaching Fellows. Dennis and I plan to encourage and support more of our colleagues, to boost the number of NTFs at Derby and showcase some of the excellent teaching and learning that goes on here."
Barbara's current role is one of academic leadership for the University, contributing to strategy development and implementation in matters relating to teaching and learning. Her underlying principles are based on 'servant leadership' - whereby leaders and teachers regard themselves firstly as serving others. It emphasises empathy, care, and concern for the growth of others within a supportive environment. These principles apply equally to supporting the growth of colleagues and helping them develop their own professional practice. As one colleague put it: "Barbara is dynamic, supportive and inspirational in her approach to learners."
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For more information contact Deputy Head of Corporate Relations Simon Redfern on 01332 591942 or 07748 920038 or email s.redfern@derby.ac.uk.
