Subject-level TEF consultation: our response

The Chartered ABS has published its response to the subject-level TEF consultation. We recognise that subject-level TEF has the potential to generate valuable data that could be used by institutions to improve teaching performance in individual subject areas and enable prospective students to make more informed choices. However, we believe that the Department for Education (DfE) should reconsider its proposed models for subject-level TEF as we question whether either would achieve these objectives. Subject-level TEF must strike a careful balance between workload and the need to gather meaningful data, but resource minimisation should not be the primary consideration. We are also concerned that the overly simple gold/silver/bronze ratings used by TEF could adversely impact the international recruitment market for students which currently accounts for a large share of business schools' revenue.

The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) aims to recognise and reward excellence in teaching, learning and student outcomes in higher education providers in the UK. The current framework assesses undergraduate provision at a ‘provider-level’ and the Department for Education (DfE) intends to introduce TEF assessments at subject level, after the initial pilot phase. This consultation was used to gather views from relevant stakeholders on how TEF at subject-level could be introduced in a manner that is both effective and proportionate.

You can read our full response here.