The TEF and student success – Why participation is key to learning and teaching
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O'Thomas, Mark 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9264-8813
(2017)
The TEF and student success – Why participation is key to learning and teaching.
TEF: Voices from the sector.
Abstract
It may only seem like yesterday that the TEF (Teaching Excellence Framework) was forged out of an apparent desire to equate the status of teaching at British universities with research, but the pace has not abated. Now, as universities anxiously await the results of TEF 2.0, which will clarify their ranking according to an achievement table of gold, silver and bronze awards, what will any of this ultimately mean for the long-term success of our students? As the REF has demonstrated, there is a clear distinction to be made between the production of research data and any ability or tangible possibility to quantify its quality in real terms. Thus the rise in three- and four-star journal articles has mirrored the debates that have erupted over decades during the annual announcement of record numbers of students gaining five or more A*-C grades at GCSE. In addition, there remains some doubt as to whether or not the REF has actually driven up the quality of research or simply become a means of distributing funding across the sector. Defining standards is a problematic business to be in and even more so when it comes to setting out the context in which the quality of teaching might be measured. While this might explain why both the TEF and the REF are so metrics driven, it does little to throw any light on just how the range of data gathering involved in submitting to the process helps to either quantify the real quality of teaching or the continued success of students.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Blog work area |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | TEF, REF, student success, Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE), Office for Students (OfS) |
| Subjects: | L Education > LB Theory and practice of education |
| Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: | Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS) |
| Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2018 08:54 |
| URI: | http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/21767 |
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