Article

The Keys to Teaching Excellence: The Professional Practice of Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awardees

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Abstract

The notion of ‘teaching excellence’ is complex and multi-faceted, and this raises questions around what ‘excellent’ teaching looks like and how it can be developed. To better understand different aspects of teaching excellence, this research project uses narrative inquiry to investigate the stories of twelve national Tertiary Teaching Excellence awardees in New Zealand, exploring awardees’ trajectories and professional practice, including views on their identity, and on what they consider to be excellence in tertiary teaching. This article focuses on how these educators embody, convey, and foster excellence in their practice. Through careful review and analysis of the collection of narratives, I identify five major thematic areas – each made up of characteristics inherent in a teacher’s personality and skills that can be developed through practice and reflection – which participants see as being key to the practice of teaching excellence. I propose a visual model, ‘The Keys to Teaching Excellence’, which captures the essence of these themes.  

Keywords: teaching excellence, narrative inquiry, professional practice, teacher development, scholarship of teaching and learning

How to Cite:

Goode, C., (2026) “The Keys to Teaching Excellence: The Professional Practice of Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awardees”, Journal of Effective Teaching in Higher Education 8(1), 64–106. doi: https://doi.org/10.5149/jethe.1683