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‘Wishing Won't Make It So’: Deliverology, TEF and the Wicked Problem of Inclusive Teaching Excellence

Challenging the Teaching Excellence Framework

ISBN: 978-1-78769-536-8, eISBN: 978-1-78769-533-7

Publication date: 6 August 2020

Abstract

The Teaching Excellence Framework was explicitly introduced as a mechanism to ‘enhance teaching’ in universities. This chapter suggests, however, that the highly complex ‘black box’ methodology used to calculate TEF outcomes effectively blunts its purpose as a policy lever. As a result, TEF appears to function primarily as performative policy act, merely gesturing towards a concern with social mobility. Informed by the data and metrics driven Deliverology approach to public management, I suggest the opacity of the TEF's assessment approach enables policymakers to distance themselves from and sidestep the wicked problems raised by the complicated contexts of contemporary higher education learning and teaching. At the same time, however, I argue that the very indeterminacy through which the framework achieves this sleight of hand creates a space in which engaged teaching practitioners can push through a more progressive approach to inclusive success.

Keywords

Citation

Crockford, J. (2020), "‘Wishing Won't Make It So’: Deliverology, TEF and the Wicked Problem of Inclusive Teaching Excellence", Thomas, K.C. and French, A. (Ed.) Challenging the Teaching Excellence Framework (Great Debates in Higher Education), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 95-127. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-533-720201005

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020 Julian Crockford. Published under an exclusive licence Emerald Publishing Limited.