This award is made in recognition of excellence in leadership in learning and teaching in the University.

In 2017 the award was presented to Dr Mary Hayden in the Department of Education.

Dr Hayden was recognised by the Committee as having demonstrated significant achievements in the leadership of learning and teaching. The evaluations of Dr Hayden’s teaching have paid tribute to the high quality of her presentations and the dedication that she brings to the student feedback she provides both from assignments and dissertations on a consistent basis. The appreciation of students has been shown through the three nominations that she has previously received for the Mary Tasker Award and also for the Excellence in Doctoral Supervision Award.

Since the core of Dr Hayden’s research relates to schools, staff and students in an international context and also given that her teaching is strongly research-led, it is small wonder that the leadership that she brings to the design, delivery and follow-up to her teaching enjoys a wide reputation that receives acknowledgement from a number of important international organisations.

Her contributions to the work of curriculum design (International Baccalaureate Organisation, International Primary and Middle Years Curriculum Board (Nord Anglia Organisation), The International Primary and Secondary Teacher Education Projects (European initiatives), together with advice and consultancy to individual School Boards on policy relating to Teaching and Learning and consultancy to other UK universities on new teaching and learning initiatives and their institutional organisation), are just some of the many examples of the high regard in which she is held by others in the field.