Teaching Excellence Development Fund
What is the Teaching Excellence Development Fund?
The Teaching Excellence Development Fund is a new pot of money to which all people involved in delivering teaching (including academic staff, PS staff, GTAs) can apply for funds to develop or promote work that comes under the umbrella of ‘teaching excellence’. This might be dissemination of existing teaching practice, implementation of a pilot project or extension of an existing project, or development of new teaching initiatives.
‘Teaching excellence’ will be interpreted widely. We are particularly keen to receive applications that touch on one or more of the following aspects.
- Promotion of teaching excellence. This might include attending or speaking at an external workshop or conference on teaching practice, or organising an event that disseminates or gains insight into teaching excellence and practice. Such events might be for teaching staff (including PS), or might be events which involve co-creation with students.
- Development of students’ educational gain. ‘Educational gain’ covers everything that students gain through their time at university – the knowledge, skills and personal growth that occurs not just in their discipline but through all the opportunities that they have at university, making students curious, connected and courageous. Proposals here might be related to enhancing social responsibility or employability skills in the curriculum, developing links between students and the local community or with professional practice, or piloting new intradisciplinary work.
- Research-informed teaching. This would include proposals that embed UoM research in teaching and allow students to engage in or benefit from our research culture. It would also include work that develops pedagogy leading to research outputs, or implements novel pedagogical ideas into existing teaching practice.
- Linked to university strategy and priorities. This would include proposals that have aims or ambitions that are related to Our Future, the Flexible Learning Programme, Assessment for the Future, or the Institute for Teaching & Learning. This also includes applications for preliminary work ahead of applying for an ITL fellowship.
The above is only indicative and any proposal that can broadly be defined as ‘teaching excellence’ will be considered.
Individuals or teams of people can apply for funding. Funding can also be used to part-fund activities/events with other (internal or external) funding.
There is no minimum on the amount of funding that can be requested, but there is a maximum of £1000. We would like to make awards across all disciplines in FSE (including Foundation Studies).
If you have an idea for a proposal but are unsure if it falls into the remit of the Teaching Excellence Development Fund then please get in touch and we will be more than happy to discuss it with you.
Email: FSEteachingcollege@manchester.ac.uk.
Why have we created the Teaching Excellence Development Fund?
As we start to prepare for the next Teaching Excellence Framework (expected in 2027), we want to develop a culture of evidence-based teaching excellence in FSE. For example, an important part of the last TEF was ‘educational gain’; we want to have processes in place that demonstrate, evidence and evaluate educational gain. We also want to raise the profile of teaching within FSE, building a culture of evidenced teaching excellence.
What is expected of me if I am successfully made an award?
If you apply to the fund and receive funding, then you must spend the funds by the applied deadline. As part of the application process, you will need to say how you will monitor and evaluate the success/value/impact of the outcomes of your proposal. We can provide advice and resources on how to measure this if you are unsure. Allocating some of the funds you request for monitoring and evaluation would normally be expected. After the activity has taken place, we will require a short report on the event/activity. You might also be asked to disseminate the outcomes or good practice identified in your work across FSE, for example via a short article on the FSE Teaching Academy webpages or newsletter.
How do I apply?
Please complete the Teaching Excellence Development Fund form. Applications will be considered by a panel meeting four times per year. If your application is time-sensitive (for example, speaking at or organising a conference) then you should endeavour to get your application in for consideration at a panel at least a month before the activity takes place if possible. The panel will, however, aim to meet on an ad-hoc basis to consider time-sensitive applications if necessary.
Applications will be judged holistically on merit. Applicants are requested to comment on the expected reach (the scale of the influence: the range and number of people who will benefit), expected value (the benefit derived for staff and students involved in the activity), and likely impact (the difference made to policy, practice and/or students outcomes that may occur as a result of the activity).
