TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF QUALITY TEACHING AND TEACHING EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION AND TEACHING FOCUSED ROLES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Education-focused roles are rapidly developing in higher education and raising important questions about what is and what counts as quality teaching and teaching excellence. Dominant discourses often define teaching excellence using frameworks, metrics, and certifications (Kinchin, 2025). The Australian Universities Accord (Recommendations 21 and 31) reinforces this direction, proposing standards, professional development, and a national framework to assure quality and capacity. While these initiatives offer transparency and accountability, they risk narrowing teaching excellence to what can be quantified. Teaching, however, is not simply a technical act or performance; it is relational and transformative. It requires educators to take risks: to give students experiences of freedom and responsibility, to embrace ambiguity, and to share decision-making. Excellence may not lie in polished lectures or neatly packaged handouts, but in teaching “on the edge of chaos” (May, 2017), where risk-taking fosters deeper, more enduring learning. Current professional development for education- and teaching-focused academics tends to draw on longstanding theories such as constructive alignment (Biggs, 1996), intervention and reaction (Weiman, 2019), and reflective practice (Schön, 1983). While these provide valuable anchors, their dominance risks narrowing our conception of teaching excellence (Kandlbinder & Peseta, 2009). If education- and teaching-focused roles are to deliver on their promise, higher education must move beyond excellence frameworks, metrics, and professional standards, beyond the egological (Biesta, 2017), towards relational pedagogies (Gravett, 2023) that emphasise trust, vulnerability, humility, and shared responsibility, qualities far less easily captured in metrics.