A message from Advance HE inviting colleagues to volunteer to review for NTFS or CATE applications in the next round.
I encourage anyone in the PER community with relevant NTFS or CATE experience to contact me if they would be willing to share insight about the review and/or application process, and I will add their contact details to this page.
Dear Colleague,
We are delighted to invite suitably experienced colleagues working as teaching and learning professionals in the UK HE sectors to apply as volunteer peer reviewers for the 2026 UK National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) and the UK Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE).
Reviewing is a valuable opportunity to engage with excellent teaching and learning practice across the sector, contribute to a nationally recognised award, and benchmark your own practice. Reviewing also offers the opportunity to become more familiar with the criteria and processes of the Teaching Excellence Awards, which can be especially valuable for those considering a future application. Full Guidance for institutions, nominees, and reviewers is now available on Advance HE’s website.
Volunteer peer reviewers are asked to assess Claims for NTFS and CATE against the Award criteria and provide written feedback, helping to inform the decisions of the UK Teaching Excellence Awards Advisory Panel. We warmly invite suitably experienced individuals to apply for either scheme. Please note: Reviewers may train for both awards (space allowing) but can only review one scheme in any given year. This year the NTFS and CATE Review period will run Tuesday 17 March – 23:59 Wednesday 15 April 2026.
1. Eligibility:
– Applicants for reviewing either scheme must be:
– An SFHEA or PFHEA, or an NTF or a Team Leader or Deputy Team Leader of a winning CATE team;
– Willing to undertake an initial moderation/training exercise before entering the active reviewer ‘pool’ and then to undertake regular training every two years (to be held January – February each year);
– Willing to read the reviewer guidance in detail each year;
– Be committed to providing positive developmental feedback;
– Available to review claims between Tuesday 17 March and 23:59 on Wednesday 15 April 2026.
2. 2026 reviewer training requirements:
– Watching a short pre-moderation exercise video providing guidance on key elements of the review process.
– Participating in a moderation exercise, where trainee reviewers will provide scores and feedback on a fictional claim for either CATE or NTFS, created specifically for the training exercise.
– Attending an online training webinar which will discuss the outcomes of the moderation exercise, as well as providing further guidance on the review process.
– We recommend that trainee reviewers set aside ~6hrs (or possibly more if new to the process) to complete the training. This estimation is based off comments from previous reviewer cohorts. This time allows you to register and familiarise yourself with the SMA platform using the User Guide, watch the pre-webinar video, read both reviewer and institutional guidance, review the mock claims, and submit your scores and feedback, and attend the training webinar itself, which will be 75min long.
The moderation exercise will open on Monday 15 December 2025, at which point you will be able to access the example claim you will review on SMA. The moderation exercise will close at 23:59 on Monday 19 January 2026. At this point we will collate the scores and feedback submitted and use these to tailor a webinar to discuss the outcomes.
The dates of the 2026 training webinars are provided in the table below. Please note that you only need to attend one training webinar for the scheme you wish to review for. Please also note that completion of the moderation exercise is a requirement to be able to book a place on a training webinar and that booking links will be released after the deadline has passed.
2026 Reviewer Training Webinar Dates:
NTFS Reviewer Training 1/5 – Tue 3 Feb, 12:00-13:15
NTFS Reviewer Training 2/5 – Thur 5 Feb, 09:30-10:45
NTFS Reviewer Training 3/5 – Tue 10 Feb, 16:00-17:15
NTFS Reviewer Training 4/5 – Wed 11 Feb, 13:00-14:15
NTFS Reviewer Training 5/5 – Mon 16 Feb, 14:00-15:45
CATE Reviewer training 1/3 – Wed 4 Feb, 10:30-11:45
CATE Reviewer training 2/3 – Tue 10 Feb, 12:00-13:15
CATE Reviewer training 3/3 – Thur 12 Feb, 16:00-17:15
3. Reviewer Guidance:
2026 NTFS and CATE Reviewer Guidance documents, which contains dates and full details of the review process are available via the CATE Webpage and NTFS Webpage (https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/awards/teaching-excellence-awards).
4. To register:
If you are interested in reviewing for the 2026 Awards, please DO NOT reply to this email. Instead, please complete the 2026 reviewer expression of interest survey no later than 23:59 on Monday 24 November 2025. We will be in touch after this date with further details of the reviewer training exercise. After completion of the exercise, joining instructions for your chosen training webinar will follow.
Thank you for your support for the Awards so far and we hope to continue working with you in the 2026 Awards cycle.
If you have any questions regarding the Teaching Excellence Awards, please contact us at NTFS@advance-he.ac.uk or CATE@advance-he.ac.uk .
Thank you and best wishes,
Teaching Excellence Awards Team
Email: ntfs@advance-he.ac.uk
www.advance-he.ac.uk
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