A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

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Teaching quality,
standards and
enhancement
Judy McKimm
INTRODUCTION
Managing and ensuring educational quality is one of the key responsibilities of
educational institutions and of those who work in them. Demands from external agencies
define part of what is considered to be good practice, and these demands combine with
discipline-based practices and institutional culture and requirements to set the context
for lecturers.
This chapter aims to offer an overview of current thinking about quality and standards
from a UK perspective, and demystify some of the terminology. The intention is to provide
a context within which lecturers can develop their understanding of quality issues in
higher education, and consider their roles and obligations in relation to maintaining and
enhancing quality and standards.
Interrogating practice
What is your role in maintaining and enhancing educational quality in your
institution?
DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY
Definitions and usage of terminology about the concepts of academic ‘standards’ and
‘quality’ vary depending on the aims and purposes of the educational provision or
country and historical context. These concepts underpin the thinking behind the design,
delivery, evaluation and review of educational provision. In the UK, the term ‘academic
standards’ has been described as ‘the level of achievement that a student has to reach to
gain an academic award’ (QAA, 2007).
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