Guidance for writing your reflective teaching statement
The following is intended to provide guidance on writing your 1000 word reflective teaching
statement.
Your nomination will be assessed using the criteria below and will be applied according to the stage
in career/experience/specific role and opportunities. It is therefore very important that you address
these carefully. The first criterion is mandatory and either the second or the third criterion should be
met:
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Individual excellence: evidence of enhancing and transforming the student learning
experience commensurate with the individual’s context and the opportunities afforded by it.
Raising the profile of excellence: evidence of supporting colleagues and influencing support
for student learning; demonstrating impact and engagement beyond the nominee’s
immediate academic or professional role.
Developing excellence: evidence of the nominee’s commitment to her/his on-going
professional development with regard to teaching and learning and/or learning support.
You will be assisted in evidence gathering by your line manager (usually your Head of School,
Department or DTL) who will use a standard email to request feedback from your students, reps and
colleagues on your behalf to encourage those who wish to support your application to provide
evidence for you to incorporate into your submission. Consequently, it is a good idea to meet with
them to ensure the relevant people who will provide strong evidence are included - for example, if
you work with colleagues who have responsibility for working with you and/or your students in
professional placements or settings, in Social Work, medical or teaching placements.
Remember the award is for ‘excellence’ so don’t be modest in addressing these criteria – this is the
time to blow your own trumpet! However, you will need to be succinct – 1000 words is very limited
and so the use of bullets for key points is encouraged. As you write, try to ensure that your
statement is accessible to those who may not be specialists in your own subject area.
You will need to select evidence that supports your nomination and the impact of your work from a
range of appropriate sources. Appendices are not permitted so all the evidence needs to be included
within the 1000 word statement itself. Evidence from colleagues is welcome but it is a requirement
that student feedback be included in the statement – these should be as anonymised extracts from
formal or informal feedback and can include data from course and module evaluations. You may also
wish to incorporate peer/manager feedback arising from peer or other observation of your work
and/or evidence of innovative work, such as screen shots from Study Direct sites.
In preparing to write your statement, reflect on your recent teaching, pedagogic and professional
practice – in what way is it innovative e.g. pedagogy, use of technology, assessment etc.? How has it
supported colleagues/changed practice and/or developed student learning above and beyond what
is expected? You may wish to talk to a colleague about identifying something exceptional and specific
that they have noticed about your work. Think about how you know that your work is innovative or
excellent – what evidence do you have already for this, or who could provide it?
Your teaching or support of teaching might refer to how you support others through sharing good
practice, running workshops, or designing and using innovative teaching approaches with proven
success. You should certainly show evidence of student success and your reflective skills to promote
continued improvement and self-development.
Finally, check through your work to ensure that you have evidence for all the statements you make.