The Teaching Excellence Framework, Epistemic Insensibility and the Question of Purpose

Autor/in	Forstenzer, Joshua
Titel	The Teaching Excellence Framework, Epistemic Insensibility and the Question of Purpose
Quelle	In: Journal of Philosophy of Education, 52 (2018) 3, S.548-574 (27 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0309-8249
DOI	10.1111/1467-9752.12319
Schlagwörter	Excellence in Education; Guidelines; Epistemology; Higher Education; Fees; Educational Quality; Institutional Evaluation; Evaluation Methods; Employment Potential; Criticism; Student Attitudes; Government Role; Teacher Student Relationship; School Holding Power; Academic Persistence; Citizen Participation; Foreign Countries; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Lernerfolg; Richtlinien; Erkenntnistheorie; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Gebühren; Studiengebühren; Quality of education; Bildungsqualität; Arbeitsmarktbezogene Qualifikation; Beschäftigungsfähigkeit; Kritik; Schülerverhalten; Teacher student relationships; Lehrer-Schüler-Beziehung; 'Citizen participation; Citizens'' participation'; Bürgerbeteiligung; Ausland; Großbritannien
Abstract	This article argues that the Teaching Excellence Framework manifests the vice of epistemic insensibility. To this end, it explains that the TEF is a metrics-driven evaluation mechanism which permits English higher education institutions to charge higher fees if the 'quality' of their teaching is deemed 'excellent'. Through the TEF, the Government aims to improve the quality of teaching by using core metrics that reflect student satisfaction, retention and short-term graduate employment. In response, some have criticised the TEF for failing to meaningfully evaluate the quality of teaching. This article seeks to explain and justify this criticism. It thus presents Heather Battaly's account of the vice of epistemic insensibility and argues that the TEF manifests two key features of an epistemically insensible policy, namely: it promotes a failure to desire, consume and enjoy epistemic goods that it is appropriate to desire, consume and enjoy; and it does so because it is committed to a false conception of the epistemic good. Crucially, it argues that the TEF falsely assumes that epistemic goods that serve to bolster its core metrics are more valuable than epistemic goods that do not. The article thus shows how this relies on an erroneous conception of the purpose of education and thus a false conception of the epistemic good. Finally, the article considers two brief objections and concludes that the TEF advances a conception of the student-as-customer which detracts from desiring, consuming and enjoying epistemic goods related to edification, civic participation and the student-teacher relationship. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01