Judging Teaching Quality

Abstract

This article examines the national Teaching Quality Assessment (TQA) which was conducted across all 105 business and management schools in England during the period 1993-1994. It demonstrates from documentary sources that teaching provision was more likely to be judged `excellent' if: (i) clear links were visible between institutional aims and curricular content; (ii) at least one third of individual classes showed good preparation/ structuring by the teacher, and active involvement from the students; and (iii) the institution had already achieved a high rating for the quality of its research. On the other hand, institutions were more likely to be considered as merely `satisfactory' if there were concerns about the overall effectiveness of administrative and management structures. A range of issues were identified about the process of assessment from discussions with people who had played roles as assessors and/or assessees, which included worries about the reliability of the ratings and variability of the outcome. Participants in the exercise considered that two main reasons for potential variability were the dynamics of forming judgements within TQA teams, and the complex presentational choices required of institutions.