Quality development in education

The article suggests that people involved in quality development need a specific competence, called quality literacy, in order to successfully improve learning processes. Quality literacy is viewed as a set of competencies that are needed for professional quality development. Quality literacy emphasizes the importance of professionalism as a necessary component for quality development, in addition to structural quality management models. Quality development is a co-production between learners and their learning environment. This means that the educational process can only be influenced and optimized through participation and not steered externally. Quality strategies cannot, therefore, guarantee a high quality of learning processes but rather aim at professionalisation of the educational process. This article suggests participation and negotiation between educational participants (clients and providers) as a main condition for quality development. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Would Marketing Aspect Be a Part of Quality System of Academic Institutions?

Similar to most  manufacture and service industries that use an input-output model and focus on the process and output measurements - as the central parts of their quality systems, academic institutions also focus their quality systems on teaching-learning activities, research, community service, management and infrastructure. Due to the changing of academic environments such as shift of the competition from national to a global scope, technology wizardry, and many others, different aspects need to be included in the academic quality systems in order to survive in this global competition. Despite the rarity of the marketing aspect to be included in the quality systems, this aspect needs to be considered as one of the key aspects for academic quality systems. The justification for the inclusion is  because  the  marketing  objective  which is to fulfill consumers’ needs and wants through products or services is in-line with the academic quality system objectives. A  number  of  arguments  on  the  importance  of  marketing  aspect  in  academic  institution  quality development  are  presented  in  this  paper,  and  the  applications  of  the  various  marketing  aspects  and techniques in quality standard development and practice are discussed. The discussion is focused on the marketing  audit,  and  it  is  based  on  some  observation  of  academic  quality  standards,  the authors’ experience in quality development in education, and library research.   &nbsp

Post Graduation Assessment Of Learning Outcomes

The objective of this work is to suggest a process for improving the assessment of educational outcomes in universities.  Improved accountability and assessment has become an important direction in academic institutional research, but the underlying question –how best to accomplish this goal is an open question.  A framework is first described which promotes the categorization of academic assessment.  Based on this framework, a preliminary instrument was developed and piloted.  The results of this study are reported and plans for future efforts are described

Теоретичний підхід до якісті дистанційного навчання

Introduction. Over the past decade, as technology coupled with the increasingly frequent use of the internet have become the forefront of business and academia, e-learning has emerged on the global higher education stage as a leading means of gaining an education in Higher Education. Because internet-based learning is currently such a relevant topic, inter alia due to the occurrence of the pandemic, there is a dire need for the creation of a common language to proceed in a collectively positive direction regarding the development of a culture of excellence within e-learning. This paper provides a springboard to discuss the underlying issues and challenges related to quality of internet-based learning, including the need for right measuring, and understanding dimensions of e-learning quality. Aim and tasks. The quality of education needs to be addressed (measured and managed) comprehensively, which means that, in addition to pedagogical aspects, it is also necessary to address the market quality. Therefore, a distinction must be made between quality that meets specifications (standard quality) and quality that meets expectations. Therefore, the main aim of the article is to review the different definitions of quality in e-learning and the dimensions that must be included in measuring the quality of e-learning. Results. Based on an extensive review of the literature on quality in e-learning, we conclude that the quality of e-learning cannot be viewed only from the student's perspective, but from the point of view of all participants in the e-learning process. In addition to pedagogical aspects, organizational, economic, and legal aspects must also be considered. What dimensions are key to measuring quality in e-learning thus remains a question to be answered. Conclusions. The quality of e-learning depends on many factors. Despite many discussions about quality and the search for appropriate dimensions of quality in e-learning, there is still no single evaluative standard. Because of this, effective qualitative metrics for e-learning are urgently required.Вступ. Протягом останнього десятиліття, коли технології в поєднанні із дедалі частішим використанням Інтернету стали головними для бізнесу та наукових кіл, електронне навчання з’явилося у світовій вищій освіті як провідний засіб здобуття освіти у галузі вищої освіти. Оскільки в даний час навчання на основі Інтернету є такою актуальною темою, в тому числі через появу пандемії, існує гостра необхідність у розвитку системи E-learning, яка рухатиметься в сукупному позитивному напрямку щодо розвитку культури та досконалості в межах електронного навчання. Стаття пропонує основу для обговорення основних питань та проблем, пов'язаних з якістю навчання в Інтернеті, включаючи необхідність у правильному вимірюванні та розумінні оцінки якості електронного навчання. Мета і завдання. Якість освіти потребує комплексного вирішення (вимірювання та управління), а це означає, що, крім педагогічних аспектів, необхідно також звернути увагу на якість ринку. Тому слід розрізняти якість, що відповідає специфікаціям (стандартна якість), та якість, яка відповідає очікуванням. Отже, основною метою статті є огляд різних визначень якості електронного навчання та вимірів, які необхідно враховувати при вимірюванні якості електронного навчання. Результати. На основі огляду літератури про якість електронного навчання ми дійшли висновку, що якість електронного навчання не можна розглядати лише з точки зору студента, а з точки зору всіх учасників процесу електронного навчання. Окрім педагогічних аспектів, слід також враховувати організаційні, економічні та правові аспекти. Які виміри є ключовими для вимірювання якості електронного навчання, залишається питанням, на яке слід відповісти. Висновки. Якість електронного навчання залежить від багатьох факторів. Незважаючи на багато дискусій щодо якості та пошук відповідних вимірів якості в електронному навчанні, досі не існує єдиного оціночного стандарту. Через це терміново потрібні ефективні якісні показники для електронного навчання

Key Competences in Europe: Opening Doors For Lifelong Learners Across the School Curriculum and Teacher Education

The aim of the study is to provide a comparative overview of policy and practice concerning the development and implementation of key competences in the education systems of the 27 Member States of the European Union. In particular, the study assesses the implementation of the 8 key competences contained in the European Reference Framework of Key Competences in primary and secondary schools across the EU as well as the extent to which initial and in-service education and training of teachers equips them with the skills and competences necessary to deliver key competences effectively.key competences, lifelong learning, cross-curricular, competence

Policies for REgional COoperation in the field of Lifelong Learning

This document constitutes the Policy Paper of the Precoll project-Policies for Regional Cooperation in Lifelong Learning, led by the Università degli Studi di Firenze-Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Educazione e dei Processi Culturali e Formativi/University of Florence-Department of Educational Sciences and Cultural and Training Processes (Agreement nr 2008-11294), in partnership with Generalitat de Catalunya, Junta de Andalucía, Regione Toscana, Welsh Assembly Government, Jämtland County Council, NIACE Dysgu Cymru-National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, Provincia di Livorno Sviluppo Srl, subcontractor Melius Srl (www.mutual-learning.eu). This document has been endorsed by the Earlall General Assembly held in Brussels on 16th February 2010. Moreover Cedefop has been supporting the quality of the work thanks to the regular advice and suggestions delivered by Steven Bainbridge.This document constitutes the Policy Paper of the Precoll project-Policies for Regional Cooperation in Lifelong Learning, led by the Università degli Studi di Firenze-Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Educazione e dei Processi Culturali e Formativi/University of Florence-Department of Educational Sciences and Cultural and Training Processes (Agreement nr 2008-11294), in partnership with Generalitat de Catalunya, Junta de Andalucía, Regione Toscana, Welsh Assembly Government, Jämtland County Council, NIACE Dysgu Cymru-National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, Provincia di Livorno Sviluppo Srl, subcontractor Melius Srl (www.mutual-learning.eu). This document has been endorsed by the Earlall General Assembly held in Brussels on 16th February 2010. Moreover Cedefop has been supporting the quality of the work thanks to the regular advice and suggestions delivered by Steven Bainbridge

What factors do make quality improvement work in primary health care? Experiences of maternal health quality improvement teams in three Puskesmas in Indonesia.

BACKGROUND: Indonesia has been shifting from ensuring access to health services towards improving service quality. Accreditation has been used as quality assurance (QA) mechanism, first in hospitals and subsequently in primary health care facilities, including Puskesmas (community health centres). QA provides measures of whether services meet quality targets, but quality improvement (QI) is needed to make change and achieve improvements. QI is a cyclical process with cycles of problem identification, solution testing and observation. We investigated the factors which influenced the process of QI based on experience of maternal health QI teams in three Puskesmas in Cianjur district, West Java province, Indonesia. METHODS: Qualitative data were collected using 28 in-depth interviews at two points of time: pre- (April 2016) and post- QI intervention (April 2017), involving national, provincial, district and Puskesmas managers; and Puskesmas QI team members. Thematic analysis of transcripts was conducted. RESULTS: We found four main factors contributed to the process of QI: 1) leadership, including awareness and attitude of leader(s) towards QI, involvement of leader(s) in the QI process and decision-making in budget allocation for QI; 2) staff enthusiasm and multidisciplinary collaboration; 3) a culture where QI is integrated in existing responsibilities; and 4) the ongoing Puskesmas accreditation process, which increased the value of QI to the organisation. CONCLUSION: Making QI a success in the decentralised Indonesian system requires action at four levels. At individual level, leadership attributes can create an internal quality environment and drive organisational cultural change. At team level, staff enthusiasm and collaboration can be triggered through engaging and tasking everyone in the QI process and having a shared vision of what quality should look like. At organisational level, QI should be integrated in planned activities, ensuring financial and human resources. Lastly, QI can be encouraged when it is implemented by the wider health system as part of national accreditation programmes

Political judgement competency among upper secondary-school pupils

Within the discipline of political didactics, differing views exist on political judgement as the goal or content of classroom teaching. In this study, political judgement is understood as a competency. It requires situational deliberation and decision-making, but must also take into account political values. For this study, 401 upper secondary pupils in years 11‐12 were presented with a 45-minute judgement test. The pupils were asked to adopt a personal position on a specific matter in an essay, using argumentative deliberation. As in the lens model of judgement, they were required to adduce and evaluate different aspects under conditions of uncertainty, since no definitive information was available. In the test, five levels were used to assess the ‘complexity’ of a judgement. All previous tasks had to be solved before a higher level of complexity could be reached. On the basis of the assumed interdependencies of levels (tasks) in a testlet, the test was scaled using a testlet model from item response theory. All the testlets show significantly higher variances than the test as a whole. The test was able to produce a good total variance. The analyses of construct validity by means of fluid intelligence and subject knowledge conform to expectations. The test evaluated with the testlet model indicates that this can be assumed to be a multilevel process