New TEF rating system as subject-level exercise scrapped

Much-delayed TEF review and government response finally published

The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes framework is to run every four to five years, while the rating system will be updated to highlight poor teaching performance, the Department for Education has said.

In its long-awaited response to the independent review of the TEF, which was completed by former Loughborough vice-chancellor Shirley Pearce in August 2019 but only published on 21 January 2021, the government confirmed that the assessment exercise will no longer run annually but will be a “a periodic exercise, taking place every four or five years”. Plans to introduce a subject-level Teaching Excellence Framework have been scrapped.