What Students Really Mean by Teaching Excellence

Updated Sep 07, 2026

What do students have in mind when they call teaching excellent? Claudine Fox, Martyn Parker and Emily Locker examined that question through an online survey and follow-up focus groups at one UK university.

The survey involved 79 students: 55 undergraduates and 24 postgraduate taught students. The follow-up groups involved five and six students respectively. Focus-group accounts emphasised constructive, balanced support; attention to students; and opportunities for growth and development. See the publisher’s methods and findings.

The study explored perceptions. Correlations between responses to survey statements do not demonstrate that an intervention improved wellbeing. Nor does this small, voluntary sample establish a universal definition of excellence across institutions or subjects.

A useful local conversation

We suggest asking students to give examples of what an excellent learning experience means to them before revising evaluation questions or award criteria. Review whether the examples point to teaching, assessment, support or several aspects together, and allow space for disagreement.

A team could compare those examples with its existing criteria and identify questions worth testing in the next review cycle. Open comments are one possible source of detail; this paper does not establish that a particular analysis method is essential or that a commercial tool improves outcomes. Our teaching-awards and gender briefing considers another reason to interpret nomination evidence carefully.

Evidence and correction

Correction, 7 September 2026: The accessible publisher methods and discussion were checked. We corrected the interpretation of wellbeing correlations and removed unsupported claims about specific undergraduate/postgraduate preferences. Direct access to the complete paper was blocked, so this remains a limited verification of the retained claims.

Reference

Fox, C., Parker, M. and Locker, E. (2025, first published online). The meaning of excellence in learning and teaching to students. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2025.2588681.