In the context of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), we examine academics' perspectives on the discourse of "teaching excellence" based on an empirical study with 16 participants from five post-1992 universities. The article reports the findings on academics' views of the term and concept of "teaching excellence", examples of what "teaching excellence" may look like in practice, whether a distinction between "good", "good enough" and "excellent teaching" can be made, and the measurability of "teaching excellence". The research findings suggest we need a more nuanced inclusive interpretation of "teaching excellence" which recognises the conjoined nature of teaching and research in higher education, and also rebalances a focus on outcome-related measures with understandings of purposes and development of the processes of learning.