Abstract:

At the University of Portsmouth, our approach to learning and teaching is underpinned by a simple but powerful institutional ethos: Teach Well, Consistently Well – every student, every session, every time. This values-based approach emphasises the creation of engaging, inclusive and research-informed learning contexts in which students actively participate in meaningful learning rather than passively receiving content.

However, while universities frequently speak about teaching excellence and high-quality learning experiences, there remains a persistent challenge: what does it actually mean to teach well, and how might this be evidenced in practice? Institutional measures of teaching quality often rely heavily on student-facing indicators such as satisfaction surveys, continuation rates and graduate outcomes. While these metrics provide useful insight into the student experience, they offer only a partial view of teaching practice and rarely capture the processes through which effective teaching is designed, developed and sustained.

This presentation explores how teaching quality might be more meaningfully conceptualised and evaluated. Using the Teach Well, Consistently Well ethos as a starting point, the paper reflects on teaching as a combination of curriculum design, assessment practice, learning support and ongoing professional development. Together these elements shape the learning environment in which students engage with knowledge, develop critical thinking and apply their learning in authentic and professionally relevant contexts.

Rather than presenting a fixed evaluative model, the session poses a broader research question: what might a meaningful research framework for evaluating “teaching well” look like? The discussion considers how teaching quality might be examined across multiple levels of practice, including micro (individual teaching practice and module design), meso (programme and departmental development) and macro (institutional culture, strategy and educational leadership). This perspective recognises that teaching quality does not reside solely in individual classroom practice but is shaped by programme design, disciplinary norms and institutional approaches to supporting teaching.

The presentation also explores the potential role of qualitative and practice-based approaches in capturing shifts in pedagogic thinking, curriculum innovation and collaborative teaching practice. Such approaches can offer richer insight into the processes through which teaching evolves, particularly where change occurs through collegial dialogue, curriculum redesign and shared pedagogic development.

By opening up this discussion, the session invites participants to contribute to the development of a research-informed framework capable of capturing the complex and often invisible processes that underpin effective teaching in contemporary Higher Education. Strengthening this evidence base is critical for institutional reflection and enhancement and for informing wider conversations about how universities define, support and recognise teaching excellence.

Keywords:

Teach well, research, methodology, transformation, policy, culture.