Reflecting international and national policies, the strategies of individual educational
institutions seek to ensure excellent learning experiences for students. This paper
explores the strategies used by political science faculty on the island of Ireland to achieve excellence
in their teaching and learning. Drawing on the work of Hartlaub and Lancaster [(2008), it uses a survey to gather data on the pedagogical techniques and assessment tools most frequently used by political scientists in their undergraduate and postgraduate classrooms. It also documents the
influence of professional development, length of service, annual teaching loads and other contextual
issues on their choice of techniques and tools. It finds that a mix of traditional and modern approaches to teaching and assessment is used. The lecture and the essay are the most popular teaching technique and assessment tool in the undergraduate classroom. However, more active learning approaches are used by many faculty. Some clear gender differences are observed in terms of professional development, teaching techniques and assessment tools. Finally, the results suggest a strong commitment to innovation, pedagogic adaptability and continuing professional development at a time of educational constraints and cutbacks.