Search

The Church of England successfully resisted proposals to bring decisions about alterations to its churches within the provisions of the Ancient Monuments Act (1913). However, the quid pro quo for the continuation of that ecclesiastical exemption was a strengthening of the operation of the faculty jurisdiction of diocesan chancellors. The First World War brought more urgent concerns for dioceses, but what no-one had foreseen was the huge death toll that war would bring, and the consequent pressure for communal and individual memorials to be created in churches and churchyards. In addition to the greatly increased volume of faculty applications, and the problem of some churches going ahead with commemorative projects without seeking the necessary faculties, some war memorial plans involving crucifixes began to raise the spectre of Ritualistic illegality.

The audit of systems for academic quality assurance and the assessment of the quality of education provided to students in individual subject areas are both relatively recent developments in the U.K., which derive directly or indirectly from government pressure to make universities more accountable. This paper examines some aspects of the impact of those developments on universities and expresses the view that some of the effects have been both positive and of a kind which would not necessarily have occurred without such internal pressures. In particular it is argued that self-evaluation of teaching requires a well-informed view of other approaches to teaching elsewhere but that the networks to facilitate that rounded view of different approaches to teaching are poorly developed; assessment has benefited those networks.