Teaching fellowships do not benefit anyone

David, this post is a little old now. However, I think you open up the obvious critique of your overall position in the details of its justification. It is very obvious that "Full-time lecturers are employed on the basis of their research experience, rather than because of their lecturing ability", although I would offer an alternative conclusion: that this is something undergraduates and the parents "should be very aware of" and hihly concerned about. Lecturers might be excellent researchers and excellent teachers (both functions are about knowledge creation, just at different scales if you will). However, after summarizing the available empirical pedagogical research, the HEA finds little or no evidence that a research function enhances teaching and learning, and moreover, engagement in research most likely undermines the teaching function. The reasons should be obvious to anyone who understands the realities of how universities work. For this reason, I argue Teaching Fellows must, and indeed will inevitably be, an essential component of the most effective research-led-teaching and learning teams at the most effective and progressive universities. However, this will only happen when Teaching Fellows are valued (paid, promoted etc...) and recruited according to the appropriate potential of this role: to provide core teaching according to in-depth knowledge of both the latest disciplinary (scholarship) and pedagogical theory/practices (teaching), while supporting staff with research functions to best convert this knowledge into active and learning focused teaching methodologies. Research Fellows are not questioned about their lack of opportunity to teach frontier knowledge to fee paying students. Specialized Teaching Fellows, valued for their specific skills have long been part of technical subjects (engineering, accountancy etc), and it is essential that the humanities and social sciences quickly realize the equal potential within their own disciplines.