The fatal attraction of meaningless metrics
The Scylla and Charybdis of the subject level TEF is that the aggregation of students into groups large enough to make meaningful statistical analysis possible debases the validity of the analysis by treating disparate groups of students with a variety of educational experiences, studying different subjects, located in disparate units of university governance, as if they were in fact homogeneous. Randomness is not something the Office for Students or the Department for Education can change. Without a robust account of how they intend to deal with it, the prospects for a viable subject level TEF look poor.