TEF has had negative impact on education, says Cambridge

Rather than boosting the quality of teaching, the Teaching Excellence Framework has distracted staff from improving education, the University of Cambridge has said.

In Cambridge’s submission to the independent review of the TEF, it said that while the university was “supportive of efforts to encourage, and to assure, teaching quality and positive student outcomes”, the exercise had “not helped in any way” to assist the institution in tailoring its teaching to students’ needs.

“Our experience is that the TEF does not act as a ‘driver’ for improvements in education and teaching quality at Cambridge,” the university said in its response, authored by Graham Virgo, senior pro vice-chancellor for education.