EIT Associate Professor Emily Nelson with her Emerging Leadership in Teacher Education Award.

A top EIT academic and researcher has been awarded the TEFANZ Emerging Leadership in Teacher Education Award for her excellence and leadership as a teacher educator and in research.

Associate Professor Emily Nelson, who is the Programme Coordinator for EIT’s Bachelor of Teacher (Primary), was given the award by the Teacher Education Forum of Aotearoa New Zealand (TEFANZ) this month.

Biannually TEFANZ recognises teacher educators with two awards –  Sustained Excellence in Teacher Education and Emerging Leadership in Teacher Education. The citation for Emily winning the Emerging Leadership in Teacher Education says: “Emily Nelson is a respected and admired colleague who ably meets every criteria of the Emerging Leadership in Teacher Education Award and is a deserved recipient of the award in 2022.”

Emily was honoured to receive the award:

“This award has validated our Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) programme, which I am proud to have been involved with for the past ten years.”

“ Operating at a national level  has enabled me to me spend more time with other teacher education providers, which has given me more of a sense of what we do as a profession of teacher educators. Because of the special nature of our programme with partnership-based schools, it has really linked that partnership with schools through to the national focus as well,” says Emily.

The award citation also says: “An experienced tertiary teacher at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, Emily achieves consistently high evaluation feedback from her students and colleagues. Emily has also been involved in  developing and delivering the foundation course for the Te Tohu Paerua mō Te Aka Whakaaroaro, Master of Professional Practice.”

Gwenda Kevern, EIT’s Head of School – Education and Social Sciences, Centre for Veterinary Nursing, says: “This is a significant achievement and well deserved.  We are very proud of Emily and her achievements.”

Emily has been at EIT for ten years and has been Programme Coordinator for the past six years. She completed her PhD from the University of Waikato in 2014. In 2016 she was awarded the EIT

Research Excellence Award and was promoted to Principal Academic Staff Member in 2019. She is a member of the Research and Ethical Approvals Committee, the Strategic Research Committee and is Chair of the School of Education and Social Science, Centre for Veterinary Nursing and Te Ūranga Waka Research Committee. Early this year Emily was promoted to Associate Professor.

The Bachelor of Teaching Primary is a partnership-based programme delivered in both Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.