A Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) has been introduced in the UK to help inform student choice and recognise and reward excellent teaching. This provides an opportunity to raise the profile of teaching globally and promote and reinforce our diverse sector’s reputation for teaching excellence. HEA offer a range of services to assist you in being TEF-ready. Read on to find out how...
Get engaged with UKES to be TEF-ready
The HEA’s UK Engagement Survey (or UKES for short) is the only undergraduate survey in the UK to focus exclusively on student engagement. It provides a comprehensive insight of how students are engaging and being engaged with their studies, and how their skills are developing when they do so.
UKES can be used to evidence teaching quality as part of a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) provider submission. The TEF year two specification encourages the inclusion of information on student engagement and specifically identifies UKES as a tool to demonstrate this.
Results can be broken down by a range of course and demographic factors, so you can target enhancement where it is most needed. And as TEF moves to subject level from year three, UKES can also provide you with the depth of analysis required for inclusion in your submission.
Working together to promote teaching excellence
We will work with you to deliver practical solutions to address your teaching priorities, whether at institutional, faculty, departmental or programme levels, including:
- Transforming assessment policy and practice to positively impact on student learning, as well as NSS scores
- Maximising student retention and targeting positive outcomes for all students
- Embedding employability into your curriculum and the broader student experience as a way of enhancing your DLHE performance
- Understanding how engaged students feel by the teaching and how supported they are in their learning and development
- Encouraging and rewarding excellent teaching through professional development underpinned by the UKPSF.
Preparing your TEF submission
In making the case for teaching excellence, it can be beneficial to have an external and independent viewpoint. We offer a range of services to assist you in promoting teaching excellence - particularly for UK-based providers preparing a Teaching Excellence Framework submission or reviewing specific TEF outcomes.
Contact us for a discussion about the services we offer to HEA subscribers as well as the support we can offer outside of HEA subscription.
Cross-sector collaboration to shape the TEF
HEA is working across the sector to ensure the collective voice of Higher Education providers shapes and influences the TEF as it develops, including:
- Establishing a working group of over 50 Pro-Vice-Chancellors (Learning and Teaching) to inform Government thinking and influence TEF beyond year 2
- Bringing together a group of Deans from across the sector to collaborate and help influence the development of subject-level TEF
- Submitting our response to the TEF Technical Consultation including recommendations, following extensive dialogue across the sector
- Responding to the Government Green Paper, recommending a 'case for excellence' approach and the development of new metrics
- Hosting a web-chat in partnership with Times Higher Education to discuss the newly published White Paper and TEF Technical Consultation
- Publishing research, exploring approaches to, definitions, challenges and contexts of teaching excellence plus a report investigating teaching excellence at discipline level.
TEF continues to evolve and you can keep up-to-date with latest developments here.