A University of Cambridge lecturer was last night presented with a National Teaching Fellowship worth £50,000 in recognition of the quality of her teaching.

Elaine Wilson, from the University's Faculty of Education, was one of 50 winners in the fifth annual awards of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NFTS), which rewards excellence in teachers and learning support staff in higher education institutions (HEIs) in England and Northern Ireland.

The 50 winners were chosen from 249 nominations submitted by HEIs; the £50,000 fellowships are funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Department for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland.

Ms Wilson teaches science postgraduate students on the Faculty of Education's PGCE and Masters courses. She has been at the University of Cambridge since 1994 and previously taught science in a number of schools, including managing a science department.

Her research interests include the use of language in science education and the training and continued development of teachers. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Association for Science Education.

This is the second honour Ms Wilson has received this year. In July she was awarded a Pilkington Teaching Prize; the awards were founded by Sir Alastair Pilkington to recognise excellence in teaching by academic or academic-related staff at the University of Cambridge.

The University's Faculty of Education was recently ranked the UK's top teacher-training institution in the annual league tables compiled by Professor Alan Smithers and Dr Pamela Robinson from the University of Buckingham's Centre for Education and Employment Research.

Ms Wilson said:

"I am absolutely delighted. I am very privileged to work in a Faculty with so many inspirational colleagues, with enthusiastic experienced teachers in partner schools and with wonderful new teachers."


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