Seven teachers from state schools all over the country will be honoured as ‘inspirational teachers’ by Oxford University’s Vice-Chancellor at an event held in Oxford this Friday. The awards come as part of a scheme designed to recognise and show appreciation for inspirational teachers from state schools and colleges.
On Friday 20 April the teachers will be honoured at an event in Jesus College recognising their efforts supporting pupils who were successful in getting places at Oxford. They will receive University of Oxford Inspirational Teachers Awards, thanks to nominations by first-year Oxford students.
Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton, will be presenting the awards, and said: ‘There is a huge amount of hard work and dedication involved in securing a place at Oxford, and teachers play a crucial role in supporting and raising the aspirations of the most capable students year on year throughout their careers. I hope this award will send the message that students and universities recognise how valuable the role of a supportive teacher can be.’
Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Oxford, said: ‘We started the Inspirational Teachers Awards last year as a way of recognising the importance of school or college teachers as playing an important role in encouraging bright students to inspire students to realise their potential and make a successful application to Oxford, even if they might not have initially believed they were Oxford material.
‘Most of the students who submitted nominations this year were the only ones at their school with the academic ability to apply to Oxford, and might not have even considered applying. This award particularly recognises those teachers who have dedicated their time and energy to helping student applicants persevere in their ambitions, no matter what.
‘This year’s winning teachers were those whose passion and commitment to their students had a wide impact. These teachers inspired students in their successful applications to Oxford, but also clearly helped raise the aspirations of others, and did their best to encourage all their students to be the best they could be.’
The new award scheme recognises the crucial role teachers and careers advisors play in encouraging talented students in their schools or colleges. A selection of current first-year Oxford undergraduates were asked to nominate teachers or careers advisors for the award, asking them to nominate teachers who inspired them to apply to Oxford, fostered their passion for a particular subject or supported them through the application process. The students were all from selected UK state schools or colleges with a limited history and tradition of sending students to Oxford.
The full list of teachers being nominated and the students follows below.
Applications to Oxford from the state sector have risen by 73% in 10 years (in contrast to a rise of 31%% from the independent sector). For 2011 entry, of the UK students that applied, 57.7% of those accepted for study at Oxford were from state school students.
The University through its outreach work reaches 78% of schools across the country with post-16 provision – virtually all schools that field candidates capable of making a competitive application to Oxford. The University also has a major focus on working with teachers, including a series of regional teachers’ conferences each year, a one-day event for Oxford's own PGCE programme, and working with Teach First participants.
For more information, quotes from winning teachers or student nomination quotes please contact Julia Paolitto in the Oxford University Press Office on 01865 280 531 or julia.paolitto@admin.ox.ac.uk
Notes for Editors:
Full list of 2011-12 Inspirational Teachers award recipients:
Robert Blyth, Head of Economics and Business Studies, Dallam School, Milnthorpe
Nominated by Damian Hahnloser, Economics and Management, Balliol
Ms Wendy Frampton, English Teacher, Glenthorne High School, Sutton
Nominated by Jamie Miles, PPE, Magdalen
Mrs Qummar Khan, Urdu teacher, Saltley School, Birmingham
Nominated by Suriyah Bi, Human Sciences, Magdalen
Ian Farrell, History Teacher and Head of Humanities, Wilnecote High School, Tamworth
Nominated by Joe Rolleston, History, Corpus Christi
Carol Holmes, Head of Sixth Form, Westhoughton Sixth Form, Bolton
Nominated by Jonathan Martindale, Philosophy, Politics & Economics, Christ Church
Angela Arden, Government and Politics teacher/Critical Thinking teacher, Havelock Academy, Grimsby
Nominated by Luke Kirkham, PPE, Lincoln
Mrs Vanwey Arif, Sandwell Local Authority
Nominated by Isra Hale, Medicine, St Anne’s
The University of Oxford Inspirational Teachers Award was started last year by Oxford’s Undergraduate Admissions Office.
Students from select UK state schools with little history or tradition of sending candidates to Oxford were asked to nominate a teacher/careers/HE advisor who inspired them to apply to Oxford, who helped them through the process and/or who fostered their passion for their subject.
Then nomination form asked students describe in no more than 750 words the way in which this person inspired them to apply to Oxford, supported them in the application process and/or fostered their passion for a particular subject. Winning teachers were informed in December.
The winning teachers and the students who nominated them will attend an awards ceremony in Oxford on 20 April, and will receive book tokens to use in their school or college and a framed certificate signed by Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton.
Oxford tries hard to ensure that all those with the potential to succeed apply – regardless of background. The total spend on outreach across the University and colleges is around £4m a year, in addition to the more than £6.6m a year spent on bursaries.
Broadly, the admissions team has several areas of activity that are designed to provide opportunities for students from schools with limited HE application support to find out more about what Oxford is looking for in candidates. These are not activities designed to give undue advantage to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but rather to encourage those students who might be able to make a competitive application to Oxford but do not have the proper support or information about how to apply and give themselves the best chance:
Working with schools: The University has contact with 78% of all schools offering post-16 education.
Working with teachers: The University over the past several years has focussed an enormous amount of effort in working with teachers, allowing Oxford to help many cohorts of students via their teachers rather than individual students in any given year. Activities include a series of annual regional teachers' conferences; a one-day event for Oxford's own PGCE programme (run through Oxford’s school of education), which trains new teachers being sent mainly into comprehensive schools; and similar programmes working with Teach First participants.
Summer schools: Oxford for many years ran summer schools through the Sutton Trust, and in 2010 thanks to a major donation has launched a new summer school called UNIQ, which takes students from UK state schools who have strong academic backgrounds and allows them to attend a week-long summer school where they get a chance to study subjects in-depth and learn what living and studying at Oxford is like. Several of the colleges also run summer school and outreach activities in addition to those run centrally. This year's summer school will see 750 students participate, and the number will rise to 1,000 places by 2014. Several of the colleges also run summer school and outreach activities in addition to those run centrally.
