Managing quality in Development (Module of HRM)

Managing quality in Development (Module of HRM)

Introduction

Quality can be defined as a mean excellence, with zero defects in the satisfaction of the consumer needs and improvement of operations. Quality is bound to satisfy the customers need; therefore, the definition of quality in education is essential in the satisfaction of customers and stakeholders. Quality management refers to the processes used to guarantee and improve quality of training, education or learning across all the institutions (Dale et al. 2013). It aims at facilitating a continuous improvement and development of operations that are results oriented.  Quality management is an integral part of the education providers; therefore, it has a direct linkage to the functional levels within all the organizations. Quality management systems ensure that through a combination of different processes, excellence in the education sector is achieved.

Many factors such as the quality of teachers, school environment, teaching and learning materials and learning processes have a direct influence on the quality of education. Most of the countries have defined standard requirements   for teachers at different levels of the education system and different subjects (Jochems et al. 2013). In order to maintain and manage the standards of education, one of the major priorities is to assess the magnitude and the presence of undertrained teachers. The national accreditation and awarding bodies have the responsibility to confer awards on its behalf, subject to the implementation of the relevant accreditation process as part of the quality management system (Von Fragstein et al. 2008).

Self-evaluation, inspection and quality development planning

Self-assessment is the key process essential for raising the quality of provision of education and learning framework. All education providers need to submit a yearly self-assessment report (SAR) and a quality development plan (QDP) (Hermans et al. 2008). These are essential in monitoring of performance during a providers performance review.  The self-assessment reports are useful in both the internal and external purposes relating to continuous improvement of learning quality. Self-assessment reports and quality development plans are evaluated by the regional learning provision team, with the aid of the standardized evaluation forms available to the providers. Inspections are essential because they make a direct contribution to quality improvement, by exposing poor provision and best practices described in the inspection reports. Both the inspectorate asserts that the inspection has driven up the standards and quality of provision of education.

Enhancing the quality, effectiveness and efficiency in higher education

Higher education differs from the other sectors because its mandate is less defined and accepted. It on their means to achieve it more fragmented due to the autonomous nature of the institutions.  In order to maintain the quality of services within the institutions, the sector intends to obtain sectoral leadership from the cross section of the vice chancellors (Biggs & Tang 2011). The sector has also involved government inputs within the national and regional projects and the development input in the policy guidance and funding mechanisms, which might incentivize efficiency. The use of integrated management systems and the commercial approach has been adopted across different service elements.

The management dashboard delivers real time monitoring of the quality of education. It is central to the university’s ability to manage assets, set goals and projections. The process of self-evaluation is significant in the generation of information necessary for evaluation of overall quality improvement (Douglas et al. 2008). The management system is essential in the creation of set targets and points to drive further improvement. The process of self-evaluation is complimentary to external inspection. This is because it is designed to act as an ongoing process, which permeates the culture of the education council rather than a means to an end. For instance, the concept of self-evaluation is embedded across the Scottish educational system. The evaluations derived through the self-evaluation process enables the authority to establish its performance against its educational improvement objectives.

Managing quality of vocational education and training

Vocational education and training contribute to the economic competitiveness in the global economy. The objective of vocational training is to provide education and skills essential to meet the dynamic needs of the world, with the principles of lifelong learning (Berkes 2009). The aim of the vocational training is to promote the workplace innovation activities to develop operations within micro- enterprises. Therefore, continuous improvement of the quality of vocational education is a priority, in increasing the attractiveness of education and training. The quality of vocational education and training is improved in many different ways. The vocational training providers regularly evaluate the effectiveness of their evaluation systems, to develop an evaluation line consistent with the international evaluation strategy.

In addition, the vocational training management ensures that there is cooperation with the education and training providers to monitor the documents providing guidelines for the training. The vocational training managers focus on the identification of diverse customer groups with current and future needs. This is because the customers are the ultimate judges of the quality of education provided for education systems. Managing quality within vocational education and training ensures that the outcomes meet social responsibilities. Quality within the vocational training ensure that the skills needs of individuals in the global education sector takes into account the overall output of the curriculum. Therefore, they ensure that the education provided is of high quality to promote sustainable development as part of their operational systems.

Quality assurance and improvement models

Quality assurance is a recurring theme in the quality literature. Because quality in education is complex, there is need to plan the achievements of consistencies within diverse systems. It is an attribute that is effective in realizing the goals and high levels of performance. Assessment of quality in education requires judgment, dependent on the purpose and objectives of the education system (Dimmock 2013). Education systems are dynamic and variable; therefore, it is essential to ensure that the quality of delivery remains constant. For example, within the context of a learning society, it is essential to develop quality assurance practices that allow diversity.

Achievement of quality within an educational or training system involves a wide range of management processes relating to quality assurance and improvement in service delivery. This includes the processes that related to the accreditation of the education programs and learning achievements.  In addition, different models can be efficiently adopted with respect to the internal and external quality assurance and improvement. The partnership is important to effectively, achieve internal and external evaluation requirements. It is also essential for effective interaction and collaboration between various interested parties. Therefore, the quality concerns of the national qualifications authority will be of a different nature from those of other partners within the system. Nevertheless, the same agreed principles guide the development of processes and procedures across the range of different contexts involved (Boelen & Woollard 2009).

 

Quality systems related to education improvement

Quality system aids in achievement, maintenance and improvement of quality. Though the core issues relating to quality are enduring, the integrated mechanisms to achieve quality are dynamic.  To manage quality it is important to trace some of the emerging approaches to quality assurance, especially the ones relating to education and training (Stukalina 2010). Quality assurance systems originated in the context of standardizing weights and measures of the manufactured products. However, these services are widely adopted in a variety of circumstances and other institutions. For instance, in the context of education and training it relates to the performance of people and their conformance to the standards in education. It is, therefore, important to have quality assurance and improvement in the context of education. Total quality management is a concept adopted by the education stakeholders to ensure that the services and outcome have the relevant level of expertise and commitment from all the members. There are four pillars supporting total quality management. These pillars are management by practice, professional quality management, employees’ participation and recognition (Stephenson & Yorke 2013). However, it is essential to make a strategic choice for the implementation of the model, because the success of the model depends on the choice of strategy.

Accreditation processes

Accreditation is the major quality and improvement process involved in the national qualification system. Accreditation is the process of giving a formal and official acknowledgement of credit, status to an organization, an individual for an achievement of standards required (Doherty 2008). The purpose of the accreditation process is to ensure that consistency of standards and quality realization is met to facilitate improvement at the point of excellence. The qualification system involves the national qualification authority, awarding bodies and the providers of education and training inclusive of employers and social partnerships, learners and other stakeholders established. The government through legislation accredits the national qualifications authority.

The responsibility of authority includes the accreditation of awards to determine if they meet the defined benchmarks that lead to its recognition within the national qualification framework (Wyse et al. 2008). The national awarding body accredits the providers of education and training as a primary audits and reviews of institutions through registration. The registration process eases the process of accreditation as the registered providers are expected to conduct assessments on behalf of the awarding bodies. The body also has the responsibility of accrediting the programs and courses of education and training through the process of validating programs and courses. The learning outcomes are based on the results of the internal and external assessment carried by the inspection bodies through certification of the learners involved.

Quality indicators for the national education qualifications

For the purpose of delivery of quality education benchmarks needs to be developed to ensure that quality education is provided. The quality standard informs the process of developing awards by the relevant awarding bodies. The general issues relating to quality include sufficiency, reliability and cost effectiveness. A number of quality assurance and improvement models have been developed nationally, which identifies valuable examples of quality indicators of quality. For example the criteria identified in the United Kingdom for quality assessment inspects the modules and units for their achievement of specified learning outcomes (Alexander & Doddington 2010). They also assess the combination of units for awards to ensure coherence.

The indicators for educational qualifications have a clear purpose designed to provide opportunities for progression to higher education levels. Performance is measured against objectives within individual plans. It includes progress in meeting local targets for education, healthcare, children’s services and other plans. Evidence is published in progress reports and public performance reports. Achievement of targets for the provision of cultural experiences, residential experiences and outdoor education is necessary. Achievement of outcome of curriculum development initiatives, which have direct impact on learning, is essential in managing the quality of education and learning experience (Anderson 2008). These indicators relate directly to the impact of education services for learners; including pre- school children, school aged children and higher institutions of learning. The extent to which the learners and parents report learners’ educational experience enables them to become successful learners, confident individuals, who later become responsible citizens contributing effectively to the society.

Conclusion

Quality management within the context of education is an integral part of the education providers. Quality is the central issue in the national qualifications framework as it permeates through all the aspects of training. Quality management in education refers to the effective education systems regarding to the service delivery, cost and efficiency in the education system. Quality is the extent to which effectiveness and conformity is established within the awarding bodies of education and training, with reference to the standards and the demand of excellence from the learners’ and the stakeholders. It is, therefore, critical to stress the significance of quality to the education and training providers across all the institutions of learning such as colleges, community education, self-learning systems and the national training centers. The national accreditation and inspection authority oversees and guarantees quality of the national education system based on the development and implementation of a national qualification framework. Quality is a concern for every individual and organization involved in any given situation, as it cannot be imposed on a system by means of authority alone through a variety of sanctions. In order to achieve quality, there is a need for a careful balance of subsidiary, partnerships and authority among the interested parties.

 

Reference List

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Alexander, R, & Doddington, C, (Eds.), (2010), The Cambridge Primary Review Research Surveys, Routledge.

Boelen, C, & Woollard, B (2009), Social accountability and accreditation: a new frontier for educational institutions, Medical Education, 43(9), 887-894.

Berkes, F (2009), Evolution of co-management: Role of knowledge generation, bridging organizations and social learning, Journal of environmental management, 90(5), 1692-1702.

Biggs, J, & Tang, C (2011), Teaching for quality learning at university, McGraw-Hill International.

Dale, BG, Van Der Wiele, T, & Van Iwaarden, J, (2013), Managing quality, John Wiley & Sons.

Doherty, GD (2008), On quality in education. Quality Assurance in Education, 16(3), 255-265.

Dimmock, C, (Ed.), (2013), School-based management and school effectiveness, Routledge.

Douglas, J, McClelland, R, & Davies, J (2008), The development of a conceptual model of student satisfaction with their experience in higher education, Quality Assurance in Education, 16(1), 19-35.

Jochems, W, Koper, R, & Van Merrienboer, J (Eds.), (2013), Integrated e-learning: Implications for pedagogy, technology and organization, Routledge.

Hermans, R., Tondeur, J., van Braak, J., & Valcke, M. (2008). The impact of primary school teachers’ educational beliefs on the classroom use of computers. Computers & Education, 51(4), 1499-1509.

Von Fragstein, M, Silverman, J, Cushing, A, Quilligan, S, Salisbury, H, & Wiskin, C (2008), UK consensus statement on the content of communication curricula in undergraduate medical education. Medical education, 42(11), 1100-1107.

Wyse, D, McCreery, E, & Torrance, H (2008), The trajectory and impact of national reform: Curriculum and assessment in English primary schools, Primary Review, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education.

Stukalina, Y (2010), Using Quality Management Procedures in Education: Managing the Learner-Centered Educational Environment, Technological and Economic Development of Economy, (1), 75-93.

Stephenson, J, & Yorke, M. (Eds.), (2013), Capability and quality in higher education, Routledge.

 

 

 

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