Champion of student-led learning awarded prestigious National Teaching Fellowship
Historian Dr Matt Cook has won a National Teaching Fellowship in the 2014 awards announced today
Dr Matt Cook (pictured, right), of Birkbeck’s Department of History, Classics and Archaeology, has won a National Teaching Fellowship in the 2014 awards announced today by the Higher Education Academy.
The Senior Lecturer in History and Gender Studies is one of 55 higher education staff given the honour – the most prestigious award for excellence in higher education teaching and support for learning. More than 180 nominations were submitted by higher education institutions across England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Cook, who is renowned for his innovative, collaborative and transformative approach to teaching, will receive £10,000 to support his professional development in teaching and learning as part of the NTF.
Upon hearing of the honour, Cook said: “I was astonished to receive the award. I greatly enjoy teaching at Birkbeck because of its diverse student body, and because I learn as much from the students as they learn from me. The student groups are a crucible of new insights, meaning there is always lots to listen to and marshall in terms of new knowledge.”
Cook has taught at Birkbeck for the last nine years, during which time he has fostered innovative student-led learning in many ways. For example, he reshaped Birkbeck’s Certificate of Higher Education in History by establishing partnerships with archives, museums and galleries, by introducing a compulsory sources, skills and historiography section, and by diversifying assessment with the introduction of portfolios of coursework. He also designed and taught a module on ‘Queer London’ as part of the course.
‘History from below’
Cook’s teaching has been inspired by the late historian Raphael Samuel, one of Britain’s foremost historians and founder of the History Workshop movement, and ‘history from below.’ Raphael Samuel famously believed that history was ‘too important just to be left to professional historians.’
Cook is a Director of the Raphael Samuel History Centre – a research and educational centre devoted to encouraging the widest possible participation in historical research and debate – and he has linked his activities at both Birkbeck and the Raphael Samuel History Centre. He was involved in Young Historians Day, for which PhD students were recruited to mentor 14-16-year-olds in preparation for an event at The Museum of Docklands. The project connected Birkbeck and schools in a joint exploration of the past - the idea being to bring people together to learn from each other.
Professor Sue Jackson, Pro-Vice-Master, Learning and Teaching at Birkbeck and a winner of a NTF last year, said: “Matt is an inspirational teacher. He sees students – and, as a result, they see themselves – as historians in the making. Each of his sessions is tailored and varied so that students at all levels not only learn about a topic but also how to explore and question it. His hallmark is his highly imaginative use of this material and of places, images, songs, oral histories, films, novels and more, exemplified by his directorship of the Raphael Samuel History Centre and his work with community groups. This award is a great personal achievement for Matt, but also a clear reflection of the College’s aim for excellence in transformative learning and teaching.”