Teacher Advisory Boards (TABs) are made up of teachers and university representatives and are just one way of helping the transition for students into HE. Teachers have a wealth of knowledge and their insights can be used to help universities keep abreast of changes to A Level courses, so that they can ensure that their first year undergraduate course material is fit-for-purpose. In addition, teachers can communicate back to their schools the priorities within individual University admissions systems.

Thirteen universities received £1000 each from the National HE STEM Programme's Curriculum Development SIG to establish their own TABs, with a remit to explore the interface between schools and universities.

The TABs were also designed to increase teachers’ awareness of the skills and competencies required by STEM employers. The established criteria for funding was that each TAB should involve a minimum of one FE college, one rural school and / or all girls school and a minimum of one exam board. It was envisaged that the TABs would result in some discernible change in HE practice, such as outreach to local schools or changes to the first year HE curriculum.  The TABS were mostly able to meet these criteria with varying degrees of success, as outlined in the report below: