You may or may not have heard about the government's recent Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) proposal. The proposal plans to link tuition fees to teaching quality.
Please read the below statement from your Education Officer, Luke Renwick:
"Hallam is not a business, education is not your product, and we are not your customers. F*ck fees, and f*ck the TEF" - Hallam Education Officer, Luke Renwicks, response to our Vice Chancellors justification for raising fees across almost every university the country.
Our Vice-Chancellor, who is on the national TEF (Teaching Excellence Framework) Board, recently wrote an article for "The Times Higher Education". There are many problematic points that he raises as positives in his article;
- He stated that he believes that the TEF will "drive up positive outcomes for all
students, in particular those from disadvantaged backgrounds".
The only outcome that the TEF will have is a, marketised university system where students have to pay more for a "good" education and therefore have more debt. Clearly, those from poorer, disadvantaged backgrounds are not set to gain from this system as they struggle to afford the costs of university education in the first place, even before the fee rises.
- "Recognising (and measuring) great teaching isn't easy"
It therefore seems unfair to create an increasing fee based system on this flawed model of measurement to begin with.
- "The TEF will assess teaching excellence…on responses to the National Student Survey"
The National Student Survey was never designed to measure teaching excellence, and still isn't fit for that purpose.
- "The TEF will assess teaching excellence on…high levels of progression and retention"
Retention rates are not a measure of teaching excellence. There are many reasons as to why students may not continue to complete their course which does not relate to teaching, such as high levels of mental health issues and financial barriers (which the TEF is set to exacerbate).
- "The TEF will assess teaching excellence on…success in securing highly skilled employment"
Different courses can have narrow or broad job opportunities, and this is not affected by whether teaching is excellent or not. In addition to this, the size of the job market for each course area varies depending on geographical location which is, again, not affected by whether teaching is excellent or not.
Implementing this deeply flawed system is simply unfair. Every university staff member who I have had discussions with about the TEF have stated that the decision to implement it is made "on a business case basis". Hallam is not a business, education is not your product, and we are not your customers.