Towards TEF Professor Fiona Cownie Pro Vice Chancellor (Education - - PDF document

Towards TEF

Professor Fiona Cownie

Pro Vice Chancellor (Education and Student Experience) Keele University

Purpose of TEF

The Government says it has introduced TEF as a way of:

• Better informing students’ choices about what & where to

study

• Raising esteem for teaching
• Recognising and rewarding excellent teaching
• Better meeting the needs of employers, industry, business &

the professions

The TEF: Key Features

• Second year of the scheme = “TEF2” (TEF1 = QAA

review)

• Two main components to the submission
• Data metrics provided by HEFCE
• Narrative submission provided by university
• Three possible outcomes of the TEF: Gold, Silver and

Bronze

• Link to fee rises

The Metrics – ‘Core’ and ‘Split’

Core metrics = Teaching on my course (NSS Q 1-4 ) Assessment and Feedback (NSS Q5-9 ) Academic Support (NSS Q10-12) Non-Continuation (HESA & ILR Data ) Employment or Further Study (DLHE 6 months p.g.) Highly skilled employment or further study (DLHE)

Split Metrics

• Year of Study
• Level of Study (first degree or other undergraduate)
• Age (young / mature)
• Disadvantaged (POLAR)
• Ethnicity
• Disabled
• Sex

Significance Flags

• Data is benchmarked to allow meaningful comparisons

between institutions by taking into account the different mix of students at each provider.

• Results that are significantly different from benchmark are

highlighted.

• 2 percentage points above benchmark = one flag
• 3+ percentage points above benchmark = a double flag
• Similarly, if below benchmark (one or two negative flags)

The Narrative Submission (15 sides)

Purpose = to enable the provider to:

• Add additional context e.g. mission
• Support or explain performance against the core and split

metrics

• Put forward evidence against the assessment criteria
• Further explore performance for specific student groups

based on split metrics

Assessment Criteria

• Teaching Quality
• Learning Environment
• Student Outcomes & Learning Gain
• TEF Descriptors (bronze, silver, gold)
• Gold = consistently outstanding & of the highest quality
• Silver = high quality and significantly and consistently

exceeds baseline quality threshold

• Bronze = provision is of satisfactory quality

Assessment

• Assessors plus panel
• Narrative must demonstrate the impact & effectiveness of teaching on

student experience and the outcomes they achieve.

• Wherever possible, impact should be demonstrated empirically.
• No prior knowledge or external evidence can be taken into account.
• Teaching & learning excellence must be demonstrated across an

institution’s entire provision (no pockets of excellence).

• Evidence should normally be from the last 3 years. (Not future

promises)

Beyond TEF 2

• TEF will become an annual sector exercise
• TEF2 awards will be valid for up to 3 years
• For TEF3 – fee differentiation between Bronze and

Silver/Gold

• Intention to pilot subject-level TEF in 2017/18 - but fees

will not vary by subject

• Potential for PGT-level TEF in 2018/19
• TEF metrics will evolve – e.g. learning gain

Discipline-level TEF

• Very little information
• JACs codes? REF categories? Humanities, Social Sciences,

Natural Sciences?

• Likely to have to show excellence across a group of

disciplines

• Actual TEF (as opposed to pilot) not till yr 5 of the scheme

Things to watch out for:

• NSS is changing
• DLHE is also under review and expected to change
• HEFCE is piloting research on ‘learning gain’ for possible

future inclusion.

• The data is based on a 3 year average – the time lag

between you taking action and that being reflected in the data is great.

• Obtaining the data you need can be tricky

Useful Documents

• HEFCE Teaching Excellence Framework Year Two

Additional Guidance (October 2016/32)

• HEFCE Teaching Excellence Framework Year Two

supplementary technical guidance for panel members and assessors (December 2016/32a)

• HEA Guidance on the Teaching Excellence Framework