Through these awards Nesta aims to:

• Reward and celebrate the great work of teachers and teaching assistants.
• Better understand how teachers and teaching assistants are giving young people the opportunity to be creative and solve problems in maths and computer science.
• Share this understanding and the bright ideas unearthed by the awards with other educators.

We are looking to award teachers and teaching assistants who have developed and tried out an idea in their classroom which aims to give young people the opportunity to be creative and/or solve problems in maths or computer science.

We’re particularly keen to hear from teachers and teaching assistants whose ideas also connect maths or computer science to real-world problems and aim to inspire a diverse range of students to engage with and enjoy these subjects.

Eligibility criteria

In order to be eligible for this award you must:

• Be a secondary teacher or teaching assistant working in a UK school/college currently teaching maths or computer science.
• Be based at a state-funded or charitable school/college.
• Have developed an idea which gives young people the opportunity to solve problems and/or be creative in maths or computer science.
• Have tried out your idea at least once with students aged 11-18.
• Have developed an idea that is used within the school/college curriculum, in non-curriculum time or outside of/separate from school/college.
• Be able to attend the awards event celebrating the winning entries in April in London (date to be confirmed).
• Advance Nesta’s charitable objects for public benefit.
• Work in any part of the UK, but we are particularly interested to hear from teachers and teaching assistants working in communities with lower educational outcomes (category 5 and 6 areas as defined by the Department for Education).

Selection criteria

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. Idea: An explanation of your idea which gives young people the opportunity to be creative and/or solve problems in maths or computer science.
2. Impact: An explanation of the link between your idea and how it allows young people to be creative and/or solve problems in maths or computer science. Details are provided on how your idea has shown potential and what successes have been achieved so far.
3. Inspiration: An explanation of the need for young people which inspired your work.

Application process

• Watch our webinar: We hosted a webinar about the award on 6 February 2020. We strongly encourage potential applicants to watch it as it is designed to be an open invitation to find out more about what we are looking for from applications. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
• Submit an application: The award will open on 20 January 2020. Please submit your application form via Submittable by 9am on 2 March 2020.
• Shortlisting: Award applications will be shortlisted by staff from Nesta. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend an interview call with Nesta. Nesta will convene a panel of relevant external experts who will review the shortlisted applications. Nesta will make the final decision based on the application forms, interviews and advice from experts.