Improving Quality Assurance in European Vocational Education and Training: Factors Influencing the Use of Quality Assurance Findings

184 Pages·2009·1.375 MB·English

by  Adrie J. Visscher (auth.), Adrie J. Visscher (eds.)

Improving Quality Assurance in European
Vocational Education and Training
Adrie J. Visscher
Editor
Improving Quality Assurance
in European Vocational
Education and Training
Factors Influencing the Use of Quality
Assurance Findings
123
Editor
Dr.AdrieJ.Visscher
TwenteUniversity
Fac.BehaviouralSciences
DepartmentofEducational
OrganisationandManagement
7500AEEnschede
TheNetherlands
[email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4020-9526-9 e-ISBN 978-1-4020-9527-6
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9527-6
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008940857
(cid:2)c SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2009
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Contents
1 IntroductiontotheProblemoftheUnder-UtilisationofQuality
AssuranceData,andtheResearchApproach...................... 1
AdrieJ.Visscher
2 ATheoreticalFrameworkforAnalysingtheImplementationand
EffectsofQualityAssuranceSystemsinEuropeanVET ............ 7
AdrieJ.Visscher
3 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainDutch
(I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ............................... 33
MariaHendriksandAdrieVisscher
4 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainEnglish
(I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ............................... 51
DavidPepper
5 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainDanish
VETfortheHealthCareSector.................................. 71
JørgenOleLarsenandOleDibbernAndersen
6 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainEstonian
(I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ............................... 91
EevaKesku¨laandKristaLoogma
7 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainItalian
(I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ...............................109
GiorgioAllulliandIsmeneTramontano
8 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainGerman
(I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ...............................125
LarsHeinemannandLudgerDeitmer
v
vi Contents
9 TheFactorsthatMatterforQualityAssuranceAcrossSixCountries.145
AdrieJ.Visscherand MariaHendriks
10 GuidelinesfortheQualityAssuranceofVocationalEducationand
TraininginEUCountries .......................................171
AdrieJ.Visscher,MariaHendriks,OleDibbernAndersen,Ludger
Deitmer,LarsHeinemann,EevaKesku¨la,JørgenOleLarsen,
DavidPepperandIsmeneTramontano
AuthorIndex ......................................................177
SubjectIndex ......................................................179
Contributors
Giorgio Allulli Instituto per lo Sviluppo della Formazione Professionale dei
Lavoratori(ISFOL),ViaGiambattistaMorgagni33,00161Rome,Italy,
[email protected]
Ole Dibbern Andersen Danmarks Erhverspaedagogiske Laereruddannelse
(DELUD)Rosenø´rnsAlle´ 31,1970FrederiksbergC,Denmark,
[email protected]
Ludger Deitmer ITB – Institut Technik und Bildung, Universita¨t Bremen, Am
Fallturm1,28359Bremen,Germany,[email protected]
Lars Heinemann ITB – Institut Technik und Bildung, Universita¨t Bremen, Am
Fallturm1,28359Bremen,Germany,[email protected]
Maria Hendriks University of Twente, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, De-
partment of Educational Organisation and Management, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE
Enschede,TheNetherlands,[email protected]
EevaKesku¨la UniversityofTallinn,InstituteofEducationalResearch,Uus-Sadama
5,10120Talinn,Estonia,[email protected]
JørgenOleLarsen DanmarksErhverspaedagogiskeLaereruddannelse(DELUD),
Rosenø´rnsAlle´ 31,1970FrederiksbergC,Denmark,[email protected]
Krista Loogma University of Tallinn, Institute of Educational Research, Uus-
Sadama5,10120Talinn,Estonia,[email protected]
David Pepper Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, England, Picadilly 83,
W1J8QALondon,UnitedKingdom,[email protected]
IsmeneTramontano InstitutoperloSviluppodellaFormazioneProfessionaledei
Lavoratori(ISFOL),ViaGiambattistaMorgagni33,00161Rome,Italy,
[email protected]
AdrieJ.Visscher DepartmentofEducationalOrganisationandManagement,
FacultyofBehaviouralSciences,UniversityofTwente,7500AEEnschede,
TheNetherlands,[email protected]
vii
Chapter 1
Introduction to the Problem
of the Under-Utilisation of Quality Assurance
Data, and the Research Approach
AdrieJ.Visscher
1.1 Introduction
The Technical Working Group “Quality in Vocational Education and Training” of
theEuropeanCommissionhasdevelopedaCommonQualityAssuranceFramework
(CQAF) for Vocational Education and Training (VET) aimed at supporting VET
providers in the development, evaluation and improvement of Quality Assurance
systemsandpracticesthroughoutEurope(TechnicalWorkingGrouponQualityin
VET,Thessaloniki2003).
TheQualityAssurancemodelpresentedintheCQAFincludesfourphases:
1. planning(settinggoals);
2. implementation(ofactionstoachievethegoalsset);
3. evaluation and assessment (evaluation of programme provision by objectives,
andassessingtheachievedoutcomes);
4. review, e.g. the discussion of the results of quality assessments among end-
users,detectingcausesofunderperformance,andtranslatingtheconclusionsinto
improvementactions.
The resemblance between this Quality Assurance model and the well-known
PDCA (plan, do, check, act) cycle as developed by Deming (1982) which was
meanttosupportcontinuousqualityimprovementwithincompaniesisclear.Inboth
approachesgoalsaresetandanattemptismadetoaccomplishthemaswellaspos-
sible, the results are studied, and based on that an attempt is made to achieve the
goalsevenbetter.
TheTechnicalWorkingGroupstressesthatthefirstthreephasesareonlyofvalue
ifphasefouristhereaftercarriedoutsuccessfully.Inotherwords,thereislittlevalue
B
A.J.Visscher( )
Department of Educational Organisation and Management, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences,
UniversityofTwente,TheNetherlands
e-mail:[email protected]
A.J.Visscher(ed.),ImprovingQualityAssuranceinEuropeanVocational 1
EducationandTraining,DOI10.1007/978-1-4020-9527-6 1,
(cid:2)C SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2009
2 A.J.Visscher
insettingtargets,andmeasuringtowhatextentthesetargetshavebeenmetaftera
certain period of time, if the results of these assessments are not used (much) for
performanceimprovement.
AccordingtotheTechnicalWorkingGroupthereviewphase,despiteitscrucial
importance,isoftentheweakestphase.Ourobservationsareinlinewiththisstate-
ment. Much energy and financial resources are being invested in the development
and introduction of Quality Assurance Systems into VET institutions whereas the
impactoftheQualityAssurancedataistoolimited.Itprovestobefarfromeasyfor
VETproviderstafftotransformcollectedQualityAssurancedataintoimprovement-
orientedactivities.Toooftenevaluationsbecomeempty,legitimisingritesinsteadof
abasisfororganisationallearningandviabletransformationandimprovementofthe
system.Thus,inmanycasesthegoalofimprovingthequalityofVETisnotrealised;
performance feedback is under-utilised, goals are not fine-tuned and no strategies
aredesignedtobetteraccomplishthegoalsset.Thisconclusionisinlinewithsev-
eral other studies (Weiss 1998; Visscher and Coe 2002) which show that in many
organisationsvaluableevaluativeinformationisnotused,oronlytoasmalldegree.
Weiss(1998),basedonherlongexperiencewithresearchintothe(under-)utili-
sationofevaluationoutcomesconcludesthatweareinclinedtothinkthatnewvalu-
able information is a sufficient precondition for triggering improvement-oriented
behavior.Forexample,inthecaseofQualityAssuranceourassumptionisusually
that practitioners as a result of Quality Assurance activities obtain information on
theirownandoninstitutionalfunctioningwhichtheydidnothavebefore,andwhich
is valuable for them. Therefore, it is expected that this information will be a basis
forimprovingperformance.Thisassumptionprovestobena¨ıve.
AccordingtoWeissnew,relevantinformationisavaluablebutinsufficientpre-
condition for triggering improvement-oriented behaviour. A strong motivation to
improveperformanceisalsoimportant,likewisesocialsupport(e.g.fromtheboss
andfromothercolleagues),andadditionalresources,astheutilisationoffindingsis
somethingthatneedstobedoneinadditiontoregulartasksandthereforeasksfor
extratimeandotherresources.Weissalsopointstoanumberofwaysinwhichthe
utilisationofdatacanbeobstructed:
(cid:129) evaluationresultsmaynotbedisseminatedamongthetargetgroup;
(cid:129) usersmaynotunderstand,orbelievethese;
(cid:129) theymayhavenoideaofhowtheresultscanbechanged;
(cid:129) and/orlacktheskills,competencesforutilisingtheevaluationfindings;
(cid:129) therequiredchangesmaybetoocontroversialtoaccomplishthem.
Thistypeofexperienceandinsightisvaluablewhenanalysinghowandwhythe
utilisationofQualityAssurancedatainEuropeanVETbreaksdownasitcancon-
tributetotheidentificationofthecriticalsuccessfactorsforimprovingtheutilisation
ofQualityAssurancedata.
Our goal was to identify how VET providers can meet the requirements of the
CommonQualityAssuranceFrameworkbypromotingthesuccessfulexecutionof
thereviewstage.ThefocusareawasQualityAssuranceattheleveloftheEuropean
1 IntroductiontotheProblemandApproach 3
providersoftheinitialVET(IVET)forthehealthcaresector.Therapidandnumer-
ablechangesinthissectorincombinationwiththeincreasedaccountabilityandper-
formancerequirementsmakeQualityAssuranceinthissectordifficultbutalsovery
important.About30European(I)Vetproviderswereanalysedintermsofhowthey
workonQualityAssurance,towhatextenttheynotonlycollectQualityAssurance
data but also process these, and transform the findings into actions and measures
to improve performance. An attempt was made to explain the variance in Quality
Assurance success by means of a theoretical framework which includes potential
explanatory factors (e.g. features of the Quality Assurance system, features of the
process of implementing theQualityAssurance systemintothe(I)VETproviders,
andcharacteristicsoftheschoolorganisation).
Thereisrelativelylittlesystematicknowledgeonthecriticalsuccessfactorsforthe
reviewstageinVET.ThechallengeofthisEU-fundedLeonardodaVinciproject(for
moreinformationontheproject:seewww.revimp.org)wasthereforetoacquiremore
knowledgeonthistopic,andtotranslatethefindingsintoguidelinesforthereview
stagewhilstensuringthattheguidelinesmatchwellwiththepracticeofEuropean
VET,andcanbeusedfortrainingVETprovidersregardingQualityAssurance.
1.2 Strategy
TheapproachforgaininginsightintotheconditionsunderwhichQualityAssurance
leadstosuccessfulreviewasabasisfordevelopingguidelinesforsuccessfulreview,
includedthefollowingactivities.
First, possible critical success factors for the review phase were obtained from
a review of the literature on innovations which are similar to the introduction of
Quality Assurance systems into VET. This led to the construction of a theoretical
framework (which is presented in Chapter 2) which includes the potential critical
successfactorsandtheirrelationships.
The theoretical framework was used for developing draft interview question-
naires which were pilot tested in all six project countries. Based on the findings
ofthepilottesttheinstrumentsfordatacollectionwereadaptedandthetheoretical
framework was also modified to some extent (e.g. some variables proved to be of
lessrelevancethanexpectedandafewotherrelevantonesweremissing).Formore
detailsseeChapter2.
Next, the Quality Assurance practices of 30 IVET providers in six countries
(fivecasestudiespercountry:England,Estonia,Germany,Italy,Denmark,andthe
Netherlands)werestudiedonthebasisofthetheoreticalframework.Thiswasdone
by means of interviews with school staff in the IVET providers. The aim was to
analyseunderwhichconditionsthereviewstageisorganisedsuccessfully:whendo
IVETproviderstransformQualityAssurancedataintoactionstoimproveIVET?
On the basis of the data collected in the 6 European countries, a comparative
transnationalanalysiswascarriedout,onthebasisofwhichadraftsetofguidelines
wasdrawnupforexecutingthereviewstage,forIVETprovidersforthehealthcare
sector.