Integrated Quality Assurance Principles in the Teaching-Learning Environment - Essay Example

Integrated Quality Assurance Principles in the Teaching-learning Environment International and national rules and regulations In a VET situation, it is absolutely necessary to be able to adhere to international and national standards, especially with regard to delivering education to the students (Joao & Greville, 2013). An institution offering vocational education must be able to know how to deal with such issue sin order to make sure that the education they deliver to the students is in line with these standards. These rules and standards keep on changing to meet the needs of an ever changing environment. In this regard, it is necessary for such an institution to be able to know how to keep up with any changes made to these rules and standards. It is necessary for such an organisation to recognise the students as the customer and thus focus their continual development planning towards making sure that these customers get the best (Rauner & Maclean, 2008). Providing the best would be to make sure that these customers get the education that is in line with the standards developed, both national and internationally. In the planning stage of the continue development program for such an institution, it would entail coming up with ways to conform to the standards. The institution would then have to implement (do) this by making sure that the courses and the syllabus offered are in line with these international and national standards (Servais, 2011). After the implementation, the college would then have to check whether the new syllabus or curriculaum is in line with the international stands. The college would also have to check whether the new curriculum is helping the students to be able to be more successful in their fields. This can be done by monitoring how the alumni from the college are performing in the market. Checking for variance If after checking it becomes clear that the alumni of the college are not doing so well in the market, the college may have to look at the syllabus and the implementation of the syllabus and look for any issues which may be causing variance between the planned and the achieved results (International Labour Office, 2010). Industry demand and future student profile This will also include, if possible, looking at the relevant changes in industry demand and future student profiles. This will also help in making sure that such an institution is not lagging behind and that the quality of its education programs will not deteriorate over time (Bosch & Charest, 2010). By applying the PDCA process of improvement, it will be easy to know how to monitor the relevant changes in industry demand and be able to align the current strategy in a way that will help o achieve these new requirements. Since the curriculum is the product here and the student is the customer, it will be necessary to continually look at the curriculum and to guarantee that it is continually being improved and that the student is getting the best training. Unlike any other product that any other form of business or institution can sell to the customer, education has certain elements which make is necessary to always make sure that the customer is getting the best quality. Education is a product for which the end consumer has to sell it in order to benefit from it. The customer who will buy this education from the initial customer (the student) is the industry and this is why the industry plays a very big role in determine the standards of education they want. Industry needs also keep changing and it is necessary that every year the students graduating from the college are able to match these new needs. Qualifications of teaching staff Of course, to be able to achieve continuous improvement of the service given to the students, the qualifications of teaching staff will play a vital role (Elliott, 1996). In this regard, it will be necessary to continually check that the qualifications of teaching staff are at par with the needs of the students as per the industry standards. Teaching and learning results from previous courses and programmes At the same time, being able to mange quality will be achieved through being able to know that the students have the required foundation to build the new course. This will mean that Vet institutions are supposed to create a minimum requirement for various courses in order to make sure that the student will have the right bridge which will help him or her to benefit from the course being offered. Part 4 a In developing a new program, there will be many issues which will have to be considered in order to guarantee that the program will be of desired quality ad that it will me the industry needs as well as deliver the right product to the customer, which in this case is the student. The Design, Delivery, Development and Assessment of a new programme can benefit a lot from a PDCA process of quality management, both in the short as well as the long term. In the short term, the planning stage of the design of a new program will entail talking with the stakeholders and understanding what needs to be met in terms of the stakeholders (Gasskov, 2006). If for instance the new program is a training course on IT leadership which is relatively new area of study, the planners would have to talk with industry leaders to know exactly what the needs of the industry are. Then, these needs should be used as the inputs in planning and developing the syllabus. At the same time, these needs would be used to determine if the teaching staffs has the right competencies to teach the students in order to meet the needs as identified by the industry. If not, there should be a re-planning of the teaching staff human resource in order to guarantee that they are able to meet these needs. The do phase Once the planning has been done in line with the industry needs and the right syllabus has been developed and matched to the right teaching staff, the next thing would be to deliver the product to the customer, that is, the student. The course should be delivered by offering it in classes. Check phase The check phase should be done in at least two levels. Since the check phase of the PDCA process improvement is specifically geared towards identifying any flaws in the product development and delivery and the end quality of the product, it is necessary to know that it will be geared to identify how good and appropriate the new program will be. In this regard, the first level of the check phase for a new program in a VET organisation will be during the delivery of the course. This can be done in the following ways; Following up on students to know how they are fairing This can be done by the internal staff that can follow up on the students as they continue with the course. Internal tests such as the Continuous Assessment Tests can be a good tool for this process and they should be designed in order to not only test the students on theory, but of practicality of the material they are learning. Class presentations and projects can also be used for this. Involving industry It is becoming more common in colleges and universities to invite leaders of successful businesses and firms to come and participate in lectures, both as spectators or lecturers in order to evaluate what is being offered in the schools. By inviting CEOs, Managers, and other leaders within industry, these leaders can come and be spectators or observers during lectures and they are able to deliver their judgment on whether the material being taught is good enough for the industry (Liang & Chen, 2013). The second level of check phase The second level of the check phase will involve following up on graduates as they go in to the industry and see how they are performing. This will involve looking at how easy or difficult it is for these graduates to be absorbed into the industry. The ease or difficulty with which graduates are absorbed into the industry may be an indication of how successful the course is (Field, 1991). At the same time, other issues to be considered during the second level of the check phase would be following up on those graduates who get absorbed into the industry, in order to see how successful they are in their career. This will help in understanding whether the course is useful or not (Pauline, 2012). Action phase This variance identified during the tow levels of the check phase will be used as feedback to correct the program in order to make is fit for the students. Part 4 b The PDCA process, as identified above will be very useful in making sure that a program will go through gradual process of improvement. This will be useful in identifying areas of improvement and then making the right changes in order to make sure that the program continually becomes better. Reference list: Bosch, G. & Charest, J. (2010). Vocational Training: International Perspectives. London, UK: Routledge. Elliott, G. (1996). Crisis and Change in Vocational Education and Training. Boston, MA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Field, L. (1991). Training for Competence: A Handbook for Trainers and FE Teachers. New York, NY: Kogan Page. Gasskov, V. (2006). Vocational Education and Training Institutions: A Management Handbook and CD-ROM. New York, NY: International Labour Organization. International Labour Office. (2010). Application of International Labour Standards 2010. New York City, NY: International Labour Organization. Joao, O. & Greville, R. (2013). Vocational Education at a Distance: International Perspectives. London, UK: Routledge. Liang, X. & Chen, S. (2013). Developing Skills for Economic Transformation and Social Harmony in China: A Study of Yunnan Province. Washintone, DC: World Bank Publications. Pauline, M. (2012). OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training A Skills beyond School Review of England. London, UK: OECD Publishing. Rauner, R. & Maclean, R. (2008). Handbook of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Research. New York City, NY: Felix Rauner, Rupert Maclean. Servais, W. (2011). International Labour Law. New York City, NY: Kluwer Law International. Read More