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Construction and Testing of a Context-dependent Quality Development and Quality Assurance Model with Labour Market Reference for the Vocational Education and Training System in the Metal Sector
Abstract
The results of the Leonard-da-Vinci Pilot Project "Quality Development and Quality Assurance with Labour Market Reference for the Vocational Education and Training System in the Metal Sector" will be presented. In this project are seven countries involved (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Slovenia and United Kingdom).
Theoretical framework
Quality seems to have the "function of a linguistic placebo", quality management seems to be the link between the past demand of "more money for reform" and today´s key concept of "more reform for the same money" (Euler in BLK 2006, p. 8). In this context it must be taken into consideration that there are two different ways of understanding quality.
| quality goal | Control | development |
|---|---|---|
| quality standard | Conformity of visible actions and norm demands as well as of self-defined demands as being documented in the QM handbook. | evaluation in order of identifying strong points and fields of improvement, development and implementation of steps as well as renewed evaluation (PDCA-cycle) |
| Theoretical framework | Phil Crosby | Edward Deming |
| Model | ISO 9001 | EFQM |
| Variants for the field of education | EduQua (Switzerland) | Q2E (Switzerland) |
| Variants for the field of education | European Common Quality Assurance Framework in VET | |
The myth of quality management combines five desires: quality of school (quality can be organized), output orientation (quality can be produced), methods training (quality can be taught), concept of formal uniformity (all schools are the same), and expertship (all teachers are the same).
The actual state theoretical approach (the named authors and systems) are not able to solve the five myths because quality is defined context-independent. But: "Quality is context-dependent, i.e. without a concrete context it would be difficult (and meaningless) to define quality." (Technical Working Group on Quality in VET: A European Common Quality Assurance Framework, Final Version, October 2003. p. 4). Therefore a quality assurance model need a domain reference as a specific context. But even the TWG was not able to solve the quality problem as they stated: "We are not focusing on calculating quality itself." (p. 5). And: "these questions are not context dependent […]" (p. 3). The existing models and theoretical frameworks are not applicable to solve the problem how quality in VET can be assured and developed.
Research Questions
Model development
- How should a theoretical framework for the metal sector be build that would take into account that quality is context-dependent?
- Which dimensions would be relevant for the metal sector?
- Which indicators would be relevant for the metal sector?
Model Implementation and Test
- Which support (tools, handbooks …) do VET Institutions need to implement such a model?
- Would the implementation of such a model have an impact of the organizational structure of the VET Institution?
- How would people work with such a model and how can the output of the work (quality assurance and quality development) be measured.
Methodology or methods/research instruments or sources used:
We started with sector analysis in the seven countries mentioned above to understand the context. To go deeper into it we continued with three case studies in each country by observing the work at practice and semi-structured interviews with acteurs (f.eg. teachers, qM-responsibles, school leaders). After that the partners developed context-related indicators for the quality in VET. These indicators have be clustered to dimensions and these dimensions have been linked to existing models for building up an QES. Now we start with the implementation process to learn more about the second triple of the named questions.
Conclusions or expected outcomes or findings:
Outcomes I (finished):
- A theoretical framework for an QA/QD-Model for the metal sector.
- Defined quality dimensions which are relevant for the metal sector.
- Defined quality indicators which are relevant for the metal sector.
Qutcome II (started)
- "Cook book" - "How to implement an QA/QD-Model in VET Institutions"
- Description of a suitable organizational structure.
- Methods to measure the outcome of the implementation.
- Experience about good and bad practice
References (including own publications):
(Continued from above)- Blings, J. / Gessler, M. (2007): Quality Development and Quality Assurance with Labour Market Reference for the Vocational Education and Training System in the Metal Sector. Analysis reports from Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Slovenia and United Kingdom. Bremen: ITB/Evaluate Europe Handbook Series Volume 2.
- Crosby, P. B. (1979): Quality is free : the art of making quality certain. New York : McGraw-Hill.
- Deming, W. E. (1982): Out of the crisis: quality, productivity and competitive position. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
- Euler, D. (2005): Qualitätsentwicklung in der Berufsbildung. Untersuchung von Prof. Dr. Dieter Euler. Universität St. Gallen. Materialien zur Bildungsplanung und Forschungsförderung. Heft 127. Bonn. Online im www (letzter Abruf am 1.1. 2007): http://www.blk-bonn.de/papers/heft127.pdf.
- Technical Working Group on Quality in VET (2003): A European Common Quality Assurance Framework, Final Version, October.