TTEA 2010 recipients

Prime Minister's Supreme Award

Marty Vreede

Senior Lecturer Printmaking, Quay School of the Arts,
Whanganui UCOL

Marty is passionate about printmaking and teaching. His students are the reason he goes to work, spends hours on research, forgets to comb his hair and arrives home tired but with a deep sense of achievement. He is described as “a man who is generous with his time and knowledge, a man of integrity with a massive heart.” Speaking about his teaching, a colleague said, “It’s a type of learning and teaching magic you feel in your head and heart and feel fortunate to witness”.

Including local iwi knowledge, contemporary indigenous art forms and philosophies from around the world in his teaching are important to Marty. He established a harekeke papermaking workshop and used paper from that workshop for his teaching portfolio. Developing the UCOL fine arts programme, chairing the Central Print Council of Aotearoa, New Zealand, being a Nuffield and Fulbright Scholar, an artist in residence, a visiting academic and an exhibiting artist are some of Marty’s personal achievements. Marty says he has been given an opportunity to make his mark on the world. The world is a richer place for those marks.

Read Marty Vreede's Teaching Profile

Awards for Sustained Excellence in Teaching

Maxine Alterio

Principal Lecturer, Educational Development Centre,
Otago Polytechnic

Inspirational, empowering, inventive and awesome, are the terms her students use to describe Maxine. A highly sought after mentor to her colleagues in New Zealand and overseas, Maxine breathes vitality into the process of learning for students from first year to postgraduate. Supporting learners to reflect on their understandings through storytelling is a key aspect of her practice as a tertiary educator.

Maxine draws students and staff into the process of learning and development through her infectious enthusiasm and passion, particularly for the writing process. In her own words, Maxine aims to ‘nudge fledgling writers from the nest’. Using the comparative analogy of Gannets and Albatross, Maxine cleverly describes developing learners from being spoon-fed on easily digestible chunks of learning as Gannets through to an Albatross setting off on journeys of discovery over great oceans of the unknown. Maxine is a shining example of the role that teaching plays in supporting learners to becoming discoverers of new knowledge through innovative practice and critical thinking.

Read Maxine Alterio's Teaching Profile

Dr Phil Bishop

Senior Lecturer, Department of Zoology,
University of Otago

Education and frogs are Phil’s passions, intertwined in nearly every aspect of his professional life. “My research expertise is frog biology; I run a website on frogs, give public lectures on frogs and even reward my students with chocolate frogs. During the Year of the Frog, I offered to go anywhere, anytime to promote these sensitive indicators of biodiversity”.

Phil’s dedication to teaching, from Year 1 to PhD, is illustrated by an impressive list of initiatives: the Biology Button (electronic resource centre), the Gap Junction (email discussion board), the electronic comparative dissection guide and an externally funded Internationalising the Curriculum project. He also helped design a lecture theatre that facilitates an interactive, student-focussed approach to teaching large groups. This fits with his belief that students should drive their own learning, with him as the passenger “assisting so they see the landmarks, understand the journey and have deeper interpretations when they get to their destination”. Colleagues describe Phil as “innovative, highly interactive and engaging”, “drawing students into his subject”. Students sum him up as an “awesome dude!”.

Read Phil Bishop's Teaching Profile

Scott Bregmen

Senior Tutor and Programme Co-ordinator, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing,
Wellington Institute of Technology

“Amusing, empathetic, encouraging, entertaining, friendly, learned, practical, serious and zestful” are words used to describe this enthusiastic and committed teacher who has taught in community education for over 20 years. For the last 12 years Scott has taught a work-skill based programme for people with long term illness, injury or disability. His students often have low self esteem, lack confidence and exhibit negative behaviour that confirms their self-perception. Scott challenges them to turn those ‘negatives’ around and take responsibility for their own future goals. He engages students with learning experiences that build confidence, self esteem and motivation. His remarkable student retention and completion rates are testimony to his commitment and support.

Scott’s mantra “If it’s to be is up to me” has motivated students to realise their own potential and they graduate feeling confident and capable, having developed new mantras of their own, like “I AM a real clever dude” and “I CAN do anything”. His colleagues respect him, parents compliment him and students aspire to be just like him.

Read Scott Bregmen's Teaching Profile

Dr Alison Campbell

Senior Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences,
The University of Waikato

Alison believes that “the development of enhanced scientific literacy… is a critical dimension of modern-day citizenship”. Her exemplary and innovative teaching of biology is designed to help students understand the process of science. Learning in her classes is interactive, challenging and fun. A student comments: “Never before have I had the opportunity to learn from someone with such infectious enthusiasm… I have been inspired to lecture later in my career … to provide students like myself with the same contagious passion Alison has provided me.”

Her innovative websites are an important tool, while 700 secondary school students a year come to know Alison as the “skull lady” as the result of her seminars on human evolution in the Waikato Experience of Biology days which she initiated eleven years ago. Alison also pioneered café scientifique locally to bring scientists and the general public together. Her warm and engaging style and her clarity of presentation are widely appreciated. A former student and now colleague notes that “time and again students have asked me which papers [Alison] teaches at second year so that they can …. continue having her as a lecturer”.

Read Alison Campbell's Teaching Profile

Dr Angie Farrow

Senior Lecturer, School of English and Media Studies,
Massey University

Angie inspires students and brings learning alive. For her, teaching is a lifelong vocation with the power to transform the students and communities she touches. Peers describe Angie as “forever experimenting, questioning and (usually spectacularly) succeeding.” As a teacher, Angie “needs to travel to new places and have the power to take others with me” – so she puts students at the heart of her work.

Her design and structure of teaching yield astounding results. She instils passion and enthusiasm through holistic learning techniques which build confidence, honour difference, and celebrate change. Angie states that “confidence building is at the heart of my teaching practice, because when students have confidence they are much more likely to discover new possibilities within themselves.” A peer comments: “where other teachers have felt a student was too difficult or incapable, she has persevered and brought forth roses from the thorns.” One student thanks her for “making me believe in myself...I will use what you have taught me every day of my life.” Another student concludes: “I now leave with a full heart.”

Read Angie Farrow's Teaching Profile

Margaret Henley

Senior Tutor, Department of Film, Television and Media Studies,
The University of Auckland

“Margaret is an unusually gifted, passionate and innovative educator” writes a colleague. She is someone who truly inspires students and teachers. Her untiring efforts are fuelled by her delight in teaching and determination to make a difference in the lives of her students. Margaret is hugely committed to equity in tertiary education and highly innovative in her approaches to achieve this. As just one example, a highly successful Bebo forum was set up in 2006 so students could access academic advisors and one another in a non-university social networking space. Margaret’s publications and research support her teaching and she is in demand nationally and internationally as a speaker.

Margaret is held in high esteem by her students; one wrote “You are a teacher of the highest quality …. You made us work our butts off but in a constructive and amicable manner which in my opinion is far more effective for a teacher than harsh criticisms.” Margaret’s commitment to excellence in teaching is best summed up in her own words. “I know that when I stop thinking as a learner, I will be rendered ineffectual as a teacher.”

Read Margaret Hendon's Teaching Profile

Sara Kindon

Senior Lecturer, School of Geography Environment and Earth Sciences,
Victoria University of Wellington

Sara Kindon describes her teaching philosophy as unsettling learner's assumptions. She does this through a pedagogy which blurs the boundaries between research and teaching and fosters deep reflection. She takes innovative approaches to disrupting students' understanding of place and of the geographies of power and exclusion; students explore downtown Wellington blindfolded, walk a high ropes course, and visit soup kitchens and marae. Students speak of her ability to change their lives: "Sara's innovative teaching….has helped me to broaden my conceptions of 'the classroom' and I view the world differently because of this".

In 2008 Sara won Victoria University's Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching. She has successfully supervised 59 postgraduate students, including 5 PhDs. Colleagues speak of her transformative impact on their own practice. She has published 12 quality-assured articles and books on the teaching-research nexus. But Sara reserves special mention for Global Remix, a student-led support group she established for students with a refugee-background. Sara's joy in teaching, in "unsettling" her students, and empowering their participation is evident throughout her portfolio.

Read Sara Kindon's Teaching Profile

Emily Parker

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry,
University of Canterbury

A passion for the exquisite detail of the world of atoms, molecules and chemical transformations informs Emily’s teaching. She feels privileged to share her excitement with students by providing this world with meaning, context and relevance. She brings her own research into the classroom to illustrate the excitement of new knowledge and to open a window to an exciting world beyond the undergraduate degree. She stimulates students to feel comfortable asking questions and to grow in independence.

Her student-centred teaching philosophy underpins her interactive teaching. A colleague comments: “teaching is a dialogue between Emily and the students”. First years benefit from practical demonstrations and links to the familiar. One wrote, “You rocked. I loved your experiments, enthusiasm and attitude”. Laboratory courses incorporate self-directed learning. Advanced students become her partners in conducting and presenting research. She inspires them with her energy and enthusiasm while developing their skills. Another student wrote “Emily taught me the principles behind being a successful scientist, she also instilled in me the confidence and belief that I could achieve whatever I set my mind to.”

Read Emily Parker's Teaching Profile

Kelly Pender

Senior Academic Staff Member and Programme Coordinator, Certificates in Fitness,
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic

Kelly is a dynamic teacher and leader who excels in supporting his students to achieve their potential. He has a very diverse range of students on his programmes and goes out of his way to build a whanau ethos within each class. Every student is valued for the contribution they make. He acknowledges his own role models as he has developed as a teacher and works hard to be role model himself.

His students comment: “Overall, I did not believe in my ability to succeed in this course, but due to KP’s teaching I have discovered my passion. I am not scared of putting myself out there.” “Very professional yet a student at heart. Creates such a fun atmosphere and sense of unity.” Well connected with the local fitness community, Kelly explicitly works with his students to develop their skills to enable them to work in a people-centred industry. Another of his students sums up Kelly’s achievements: “Thank you bro for your example … you have changed my life for the better.”

Read Kelly Pender's Teaching Profile

Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching in a Kaupapa Māori Context:

Te Kahautu Maxwell

Pūkenga Matua, Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao i Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

He uri a Te Kahautu Maxwell nō Te Whakatōhea, Te Whānau ā-Apanui, Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Awa, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou me Ngāti Maniapoto.

Hei tā Te Kahautu, “ko tāku, he whakamana i te ākonga hei rangatira mō tōna ake ao, kia hua ai tōna māramatanga ki te wāhi nui o āna akoranga ki te Ao Māori”.Ki ōna hoa, “he pouako hihiri, whakahihiko hoki a Te Kahautu. He aroha, he hangareka hoki, ā, he pouako whakatakoto taumata tiketike mō āna ākonga.”

Ki tētahi o ōna hoa, “whakamahere ai ngā ākonga i ā rātau tohu mātauranga kia āhei ai ki āna akomanga i te taumata 200, te taumata 300 me te taumata 500. Inā kē tōna mana ki ā mātau ākonga.” Ahakoa tērā, he ngākau māhaki a Te Kahautu. Nā ōna hoa kē a ia i tono mō te tohu nei.

He mātauranga hoki a Te Kahautu i te Ao Māori. He tautitotito waiata, he tohunga ki te whaikōrero me te haka, he tohunga o te Hāhi Ringatū, he kaiwhakamāori kōrero anō hoki. Heoti, he rangatira aroha nui ki tōna iwi. “Nāna tonu mātau i takitaki kia tū rangatira ai mātau i roto i ō mātau ake iwi, ā, e whakawhiti ai ērā pūmanawa ki ngā mahi katoa a te tangata”

Translation:

Te Kahautu Maxwell

Senior Lecturer, School of Māori and Pacific Development, The University of Waikato

Te Kahautu Maxwell has iwi affiliations to Te Whakatōhea, Te Whānau ā-Apanui, Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Awa, Tuhoe, Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Maniapoto.

Teaching in English and Māori at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Te Kahautu believes his role is “to empower the learners to be the architects of their own destiny and to ensure they understand the relevance of their study to te Ao Māori”. His colleagues say, “Te Kahautu is a dynamic and energetic teacher. He is compassionate, humorous and sets high standards for his learners”.

A colleague says, “learners plan their study around his classes at 200, 300 and 500 levels. Such is his mana amongst our students”. Despite that, Te Kahautu is a humble man who was nominated by his colleagues for this award.

Te Kahautu is also a scholar in te Ao Māori. He is an expert orator and haka exponent, composer, tohunga of the Ringatū Church and licensed translator. Accordingly, he has a deep love for his people. “He encouraged us to be proud participants within our own iwi and to take the skills that we learned and use them in every aspect of our lives".

Read Te Kahautu Maxwell's Teaching Profile