I believe every subject we offer for study here at Royal Holloway is fascinating in some way. There’s so much incredible potential in everything there is to learn; whether it’s teasing apart the strands of an argument, scrutinising evidence to gain insights or observing the natural world unfolding in the sciences. If you’re studying here, chances are it’s because you’re fascinated too – and you want to learn more.
A great teacher should fuel that desire to learn and help push back the boundaries in your mind. While some part of teaching is about reporting the facts, great teaching is also about inspiring you to go beyond that – to take those facts and explore them, debate them, to look at them in combination and discover something new. Excellence in teaching should encourage entrepreneurship, critical thinking, team work and creativity. We’re lucky at Royal Holloway to have many amazing teachers; you can meet some of them, from across the departments, in our Talking Teaching video series.
Of course, teaching and students don’t stand still. Across the College we are investing in new systems and adopting innovative practices. Our goal is to maintain our high standards for teaching and ensure it continues to challenge and be responsive to your needs. We also always pay close attention to your feedback through programmes like our Student Surveys campaign.
Teaching standards are also high on the UK Government’s agenda. In a recently published Green Paper the UK Government proposed, among other things, a ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’, or ‘TEF’, that will examine universities more closely than ever before on the quality of their teaching. The Government hopes a TEF will result in improved teaching at lots of institutions. So what is the proposed TEF all about? Out short Q&A explains TEF a bit more and what the Government believes TEF can do for you.
What do you think about the TEF? Let me know in the comments below.
Paul Layzell Principal