The UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF): The Development of a New Transparency Tool

Abstract

The results of the first UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) were published in 2017, with each HEI receiving a Gold, Silver, or Bronze award. The TEF is comprised of three components: teaching quality, including student satisfaction; the institutional environment in which students learn; and student outcomes, including the performance of under-represented groups. This new classification, solely assessing the ‘teaching mission’ of the university produced an unfamiliar hierarchy of institutions. This chapter provides an overview of the rationales for the TEF as set out by policymakers. It also accounts for the development process of a new transparency tool which involved defining and measuring ‘teaching excellence’. It argues that the TEF can be viewed as a multi-purpose instrument which seeks to provide accountability (by providing performance data to inform applicant choice and fee rises) and drive improvement (through raising the importance of teaching and learning within HEIs). The analysis explores where the TEF is situated relative to established Quality Assurance agendas on the one hand, and wider government ambitions to reconfigure the higher education sector on the other. The paper concludes with a summary of what the wider EHEA community can learn from the implementation of the TEF.