The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)is a government initiative designed to “ensure all students receive an excellent teaching experience.”[1] The crucial detail missing is how this will be achieved, with little detail coming from the government. The only detail being touted as a definite is that the TEF will be based on “outcome-focused criteria, and metrics.”[2] Invariably this has led to speculation about what those metrics will be, with links to NSS, PTES, PRES, class sizes, grade progression, all possibilities.
So, there is little known about the TEF. There is one likely outcome, that no matter
what the metric is, or what the comparators look like on teaching standards,
the league tables will invariably show “elite” universities as having the best
teaching. The people drawing up these
proposals come from elite universities, they are unlikely to devise a system
that does not enhance their reputation.
This is not to say that the Russell Group do not provide
excellent teaching, as in places they do, but the government are unlikely develop
a framework that does not allow them to continue to promote Russell Group
universities as being excellent at teaching, as well as research.
A large portion of UK universities finance is dependent on their international reputation for excellence. It is no secret that universities are increasingly reliant on the tuition fees from international students, and reliant on international research collaborations to support their research. The government would be unlikely to develop a system that would potentially harm the international reputation of elite universities, given the benefits to the UK of taking part in globalised education.
A large portion of UK universities finance is dependent on their international reputation for excellence. It is no secret that universities are increasingly reliant on the tuition fees from international students, and reliant on international research collaborations to support their research. The government would be unlikely to develop a system that would potentially harm the international reputation of elite universities, given the benefits to the UK of taking part in globalised education.
Excellent teaching is frequently overlooked by universities,
and there are arguably two main drivers behind this. The first being that teaching is often viewed
as a supplementary activity to research, and in some ways less important. The second being that universities, and
funding bodies, invariably reward excellent research, much more than they award
excellent teaching. This obviously isn’t
the case across all universities, but these are two fundamental issues that
need to be grappled with, in order to provide an excellent teaching experience
for students.
If the TEF is a means of boosting the reputation of research
intensive institutions then it misses an opportunity to improve teaching across
the board. The TEF could signal a change
in the emphasis placed on teaching by universities, and could start to redress
the balance between teaching and research.
If it is simply a means of enhancing the reputation of already well
established universities, then the exercise will be a missed opportunity. If the framework develops means of improving
teaching across universities, raising the standards of all teaching,
encouraging teaching collaborations, then it could do some good.
It is likely that there will invariably be a link between
the Research Excellence Framework, and the TEF.
This will likely come in the form of rewarding the use of research led
teaching, given that the older and more well financed universities already hugely
invest in research, there teaching will inevitably be well scored as well.
This then of course raises the question of what is the
government’s intention for the TEF. The
answer is again we don’t know yet. There
is a green paper going to Parliament soon, and a Higher Education bill due in
the coming year. Engagement with the TEF
is necessary to ensure that teaching reforms in higher education are done to
genuinely improve teaching, not to superficially improve the image of already
successful universities.
