The Quality of Learning

Issues of quality assurance in Education.

The last decade has seen a growing concern and preoccupation with issues of quality in the education sector. Across the education arena the need for robust quality assurance systems has been seen as a response to several related factors;

• the shift from an elite to a mass education system
• the growth of the vocational education sector
• the increasing need for lifelong learning to keep pace with accelerated change
• the internationalisation and concurrent commercialisation of education.

That these factors coalesce into a focus on the establishment of quality systems is no surprise given the cultural climate of ever-greater transparency: everything from celebrity lives to primary school syllabi are expected to be available for public scrutiny.

The regulatory response to this demand for greater accountability, particularly where tax monies are involved, has been the demand for more measurable indicators of quality service.

"The decline of public trust and the concurrent drift of schools from social to economic institutions (you need a good education to survive in a knowledge economy) has ushered in an evidence-based show-me age." (Bricker & Greenspon, cited in Fullan, 2003 )

Quality Assurance has become a controversial issue because its introduction into the educational context is relatively new. The quality of education, particularly in higher education institutions, has long been considered in the vague terms of quasi-esoteric 'academic standards'. These standards have since been exposed as ill-defined impressions that owe more to the historical reputation of the institution than any real, measurable standard.

The International Scene

Quality in International education

In the international context, one of the major drivers of change towards quality assurance in education has been the increased mobility of student populations and the consequent necessity for greater portability of and transferability between qualifications.

This, for example, is one of the main aims behind the establishment of a European quality agency for higher education. The Bologna Process calls for the establishment of a common European Education sector, which in turn requires transparency for mutual recognition:

"Quality Assurance has been high on the Bologna agenda as a means to improve quality of higher education and to promote transparency." ( Kristoffersen, D & Woodhouse, D. 2005 )

The solution has been the establishment of a pan European set of standards and guidelines for internal quality assurance within higher education providers, for external QA agencies, and a peer review system for QA agencies.

Among the results of this process is a higher degree of trust among institutions and agencies and stronger mutual recognition of qualifications

Australian moves to quality

Shifts in the Australian regulatory climate

Obviously in Australia the establishment of the AQF common framework of qualifications (in 2000) for the VET and Higher Education sectors is a response to the same pressures of portability as faced by the Bologna Process. This need for portability and mutual recognition of qualifications is made more urgent by the growing internationalisation of the Australian education market and concurrent opening of the sector to for-profit institutions. In short, the complexity of the Australian adult education sector requires the establishment of quality regimes to protect the integrity of the market as well as facilitate the flexibility of that market.

A report in 2000 commissioned by the (then) DEETYA concluded that Australia needed to establish a new set of regulatory practices;

A model is needed which builds on current and recent practice, which embraces both quality assurance and accreditation. It must accommodate not just the existing self-accrediting universities, but institutions aspiring to university status, whether public or private. It must also be appropriate for non-university providers of courses, some of which award their own degrees, others which prepare students for the awards of existing universities. It must be relevant to those providing in novel ways, such as corporate providers and ‘virtual' (computer-based) providers. ( Anderson et al , 2000 )

It is in this context that we have witnessed the changes taking place in the regulatory climate over the recent decade:

• the establishment of the Australian Qualifications Framework
• the Australian Universities Quality Agency
• AQTF 2007
• ESOS Act introduced a new National Code of Practice

Across Australia, at both State and Commonwealth levels, there has been a shift away from an inputs focussed measurement of quality and a quality assurance regime enacted through registration and accreditation practices towards an outcomes focussed climate requiring regular auditing processes.

However the growth of the market for higher education and increased competitiveness means quality assurance is no longer sufficient to maintain the overall integrity and reputation of the Australian education sector.

AUQA reports confirm that Australian Univeristies and HEIs encountered so far in their audit cycle have all implemented good working quality assurance practices. However AUQA also found that;

"Quality enhancement systems are less well understood and certainly less formalised in the institutions" ( Martin, 2003 )

The future of the Australian education market requires a culture of continuous improvement to flourish in the strategic and operational planning of institutions across all sectors. This is ultimately the goal of the changes in the regulatory climate.