Since its inception in 2017, the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) has become an integral part of assessing and recognising the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning in the English higher education system. Institutions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can participate on a voluntary basis. Managed by the Office for Students (OfS), TEF aims to evaluate providers based on teaching quality, learning environment, and educational outcomes.
In July 2022, the OfS introduced a revised TEF framework, incorporating a focus on ‘educational gain’, defined as ‘the distance travelled’ by students by McGrath et al. Astonishingly, the OfS did not provide a definition or framework for measuring educational gain but instead invited institutions to ‘demonstrate a clear articulation of their ambitions for educational gain, credible approaches for delivering this, and where possible evidence that it is delivered in practice’. This lack of definition and ‘anything goes’ approach made educational gain ‘the dark matter “holy grail” of higher education – we can believe it is out there but will never understand it’.
A joint webinar by evasys and HEPI in June 2023 delved into how institutions evidenced educational gain in their 2023 TEF submissions. While not exhaustive, the examples included here shed light on various institutional approaches.
