Preface

In 1992, the University of Technology, Sydney received support from DEET through the National Priority Reserve Fund to "Develop Mechanisms to Assure Teaching Quality and Performance". In a series of School-based activities, good teaching practices and areas for improvement were identified, and strategies for improvement and assurance of teaching quality were developed and documented by each School at UTS. The comments in this report are drawn from those documents, and they may be of interest and use across UTS and across the Unified National System.

The project aimed to assist Schools and Faculties within UTS to decide how the University Mission and its objectives and mechanisms in relation to the assurance of teacher quality apply specifically to them, and to assist them to review and develop their mechanisms to assure the quality of teaching. The UTS approach to quality assurance rests on a tripartite model, where the quality assurance mechanisms set in place at the School level are backed up by the quality assurance questions asked at Faculty and University-wide levels. Underpinning this project was the philosophy that the academic units themselves are ultimately a key guarantee of quality and quality assurance.

Many staff contributed to this project and their contributions, much of which was not supported by the funding received, are acknowledged. Ingrid Moses developed the original idea and the funding application, and Brian Low, Judy Lumby, Joyce Kirk and Lindsay Botten helped it happen by facilitating the School-based activities. Staff in all Schools participated in the planning discussions in 1993 and in the follow-up activities in 1994. Bob Ross and Soo Kheng Lim prepared drafts of this report.

As noted in the report, the project itself is an example of "good practice" in teaching, and fittingly, most of the benefits of the project will have been gained by the Schools and the students learning through those Schools.

Keith Trigwell
Project Director, 1994
Centre for Learning and Teaching