Professor Jessop will be responsible for shaping Bristol’s teaching and learning activity with a continued focus on high-calibre, inspiring and challenging pedagogy that is oriented to the needs of our diverse student community. She will be the academic lead at the university level on quality enhancement in relation to curriculum, pedagogy and assessment and on the academic development of new programmes. Professor Jessop will take up the role from July 2019.
Since 2005, Professor Tansy Jessop has been an educational developer and leader, with a strong emphasis on evidence-informed practice. She led the influential ‘Transforming the Experience of Students through Assessment’ (TESTA) research and change project used in more than 50 UK universities, and described by Professor Graham Gibbs, former Director of the Oxford Learning Institute, as "the nearest I have experienced to a perfect national scale development project in my 30 years in the business". TESTA has brought about a step change in thinking about assessment and feedback, with more than 50 UK universities using TESTA to improve assessment and feedback. Professor Jessop is also consultant to 15 universities in the UK, Ireland and Australia in support of using programmatic approaches to assessment.
Professor Jessop began her career as secondary school teacher in apartheid South Africa. She wanted to make a difference through her teaching, so she taught an alternative perspective on South African History. Tansy’s PhD took her to areas of rural KwaZulu-Natal in the newly democratic South Africa, deepening her understanding of the relationship between teachers’ narratives and their professional lives. Her PhD journey began her love of teacher development, particularly understanding the links between the personal and public dimensions of teaching.
Tansy Jessop is currently Professor of Research Informed Teaching at Southampton Solent University, with expertise in developing approaches to research informed teaching, curriculum transformation and raising the profile of pedagogic research. She is also a Visiting Professor at the Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching at the University of Bristol and has previously been a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. She has published about social justice in education, learning spaces, research informed teaching, assessment and feedback, and narrative research methods and serves on various international editorial boards, including the International Journal for Academic Development and Active Learning in Higher Education. She is a National Teaching Fellow.
“I am thrilled to be joining the University of Bristol as PVC Education. In the role, I want to work with academic colleagues to build on the exciting new initiatives at Bristol to enhance teaching and learning. My aim is to create a supportive environment for colleagues to be daring and imaginative in their teaching, assessment and curriculum design” commented Professor Tansy Jessop.
Professor Judith Squires, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of the University of Bristol, said: "I am delighted with Tansy’s appointment to this crucially important leadership role at Bristol. Tansy’s experience of leading transformation projects across the sector to improve learning and teaching makes her ideally placed to further enhance the University of Bristol’s educational practices. I am confident that Tansy will secure the University of Bristol as an exemplar of excellent learning and teaching. I look forward to working closely with her over the years ahead."