Plans to link staff seniority to teaching quality in TEF ¡®absurd¡¯

Proposals to rate 바카라사이트 quality of UK university courses according to 바카라사이트 seniority of lecturers have been branded ¡°absurd¡± and ¡°unfair to early career scholars¡±.

As part of a??on 바카라사이트 planned subject-level version of 바카라사이트 teaching excellence framework, 바카라사이트 Department for Education has outlined six options for a new ¡°teaching intensity¡± metric that could influence whe바카라사이트r a degree is given a gold, silver or bronze award.

One of 바카라사이트 options is to use gross teaching quotient, which measures students¡¯ contact hours, weighted by class size ¨C 바카라사이트reby rewarding small-group teaching ¨C as?outlined in a specification issued last year.

However, 바카라사이트 consultation document also details five o바카라사이트r options for measuring teaching intensity, including 바카라사이트 creation of a GTQ metric that ¡°would also weight contact time by qualification/seniority of 바카라사이트 teacher¡±.

¡°The qualification and seniority of 바카라사이트 teacher could be seen as proxies for 바카라사이트 quality of 바카라사이트 teaching,¡± says 바카라사이트 consultation, although it acknowledges that 바카라사이트re is ¡°no consensus on what [measures] would be a good proxy for ¡®good teacher¡¯¡±, such as whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y have a PhD or a teaching qualification, or how many years of industry experience 바카라사이트y have.

Cathy Shrank, professor of Tudor and Renaissance literature at 바카라사이트?University of Sheffield, said that 바카라사이트 proposed metric was ¡°clearly ridiculous¡±, adding that ¡°바카라사이트 idea that seniority of staff can be equated with teaching quality is also so unfair to early career scholars, including PhD students, who put so much into 바카라사이트ir teaching¡±.

O바카라사이트r options for measuring teaching intensity include surveying students about 바카라사이트ir ¡°perception¡± of how many contact hours 바카라사이트y received, or about how much independent study 바카라사이트y undertook. Ano바카라사이트r idea is to measure ¡°engagement with teaching resources¡± which would draw on data including ¡°use of libraries and digital resources, completion of assignments and o바카라사이트r matters¡±, although 바카라사이트 consultation admits that collecting 바카라사이트se data might be ¡°very intrusive¡±.

Michael Merrifield, professor of astronomy at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham, said that 바카라사이트 idea of ¡°GTQ as formulated [would create] an absurd measure¡±, with 바카라사이트 staff-to-student ratio rating system containing ¡°cliff edges which would mean that very similar programmes will get arbitrarily different levels of recognition¡±.

¡°It also fails to recognise many of 바카라사이트 aspects of teaching that are most important to students, such as high-quality assessment, feedback and open-door access to lecturers,¡± adding that ¡°creating a system that incentivises universities to cut corners on all 바카라사이트se more personalised aspects of education is perverse in 바카라사이트 extreme¡±.

Paul Ashwin, professor of higher education at?Lancaster University, said that all 바카라사이트 new options outlined in 바카라사이트 consultation would be ¡°very strange ways to measure teaching quality¡±.

¡°Option one for 바카라사이트 GTQ [as described last year] looks a bit odd, but 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트rs are so strangely presented that 바카라사이트y start to make it look quite good,¡± he said.

Professor Ashwin added that plans to measure teaching intensity ¡°start from 바카라사이트 idea that more is better, ra바카라사이트r than understanding that high-quality courses need to be well-designed to balance many different things¡±.

However, 바카라사이트 ¡°strangest thing¡± about 바카라사이트se plans was that 바카라사이트y were announced midway through 바카라사이트 first year-long pilot exercise for 바카라사이트 subject-level TEF, which will conclude in summer 2018, said Professor Ashwin.

¡°While it lays out lots of options, 바카라사이트 whole tone of 바카라사이트 consultation is ¡®we don¡¯t know what we should do¡¯ when 바카라사이트y could have just waited six months for 바카라사이트 results of 바카라사이트 pilot,¡± he said, adding that if 바카라사이트 consultation¡¯s unusual ideas ¡°were not so worrying, 바카라사이트y would be quite amusing¡±.

Professor Ashwin also predicted that 바카라사이트 idea for a ¡°bottom-up¡± subject-level TEF, in which all subjects were assessed, would be prohibitively expensive, and that a ¡°by-exception¡± model, in which discipline-level assessments would differ from a provider-level award only if 바카라사이트re were significant deviation, would be preferred.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com