Indicators of Teaching Excellence in Higher Education: A Critical Approach

An innovative take on the controversial question of teaching excellence in Higher Education (HE). After critiquing the very idea of ’measuring’ teaching excellence, Hayes and Garnett offer a critical approach to re-conceptualising and measuring teaching excellence and the controversies surrounding current teaching excellence rankings in the UK and internationally.

The book proposes a shift in conceptualising the ways in which ’evidence’ of teaching excellence can be produced by higher education providers. It suggests that measurement can be approached as developmental and can create agency for university leaders in making decisions about teaching and learning, in contrast to the performativity of current approaches. It emphasises the impact of teaching and learning processes on student outcomes and the skills required. The book guides readers through statistical approaches which allow exploration of the relationality of epistemic frames of teaching excellence in institutions, ie, how it is comprised of relationships an connections of what happens in classrooms and across the institution.

Written in an accessible style tailored for HE leaders at all levels, this book is packed with real-world examples and opportunities for critical reflection, and can be understood by readers who have no prior knowledge of statistics.

Aneta Hayes is Reader in Education at Keele University. She is interested in applications of critical data science to developing understandings of teaching and learning in higher education. To date, Aneta has applied these interests in publications that tackle the controversial metrics of teaching excellence and how we can change them to decolonise our teaching and to account for epistemic inclusion of (international) students.

Nicholas Garnett is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. His expertise is focused across three domains: intervention science, self-limiting behaviours in education, and the impact of policy on educational outcomes. Having worked with a variety of institutions from schools and universities to voluntary and statutory organisations he has a wealth of experience of utilising data to inform and evaluate strategy and policy within complex institutions.

Joy Jarvis is currently Professor of Educational Practice at the University of Hertfordshire and a UK National Teaching Fellow. She has experience in a wide range of education contexts and works to create effective learning experiences for students and colleagues. She is particularly interested in the professional learning of those engaged in educational practice in higher education settings and has undertaken a range of projects, working with colleagues locally, nationally and internationally, to develop practice in teaching and leadership of teaching. Joy works with doctoral students exploring aspects of educational practice and encourages them to be adventurous in their methodological approaches and to share their findings in a range of contexts to enable practice change.

Karen Mpamhanga (formerly Karen Smith) is Professor of Higher Education and Professional Learning in the School of Education at the University of Hertfordshire. Her research focuses on how higher education policies and practices impact on those who work and study within universities. Karen has worked within educational development and on lecturer development programmes. She holds a Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and is currently the Director of the University of Hertfordshire’s Professional Doctorate in Education. Karen also leads collaborative research and development in her School, where she engages in externally funded research and evaluation and supports the development of scholarly educational practice through practitioner research.