Whose Quality Is It, Anyway? ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING QUALITY MODELS IN FURTHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Suggests that, in order to move beyond the rhetoric of quality debates at the levels of educational policy and implementation, it is necessary to ascertain what conceptual frameworks are in use by those who use the term. This task is significant, since the new further education funding council now requires formal quality assurance systems to be in place in each college. Describes quality models in use, and in the ensuing analysis concentrates on exploring the focus and range of quality systems. Argues that, since the issue of quality assurance bears on wider debates about institutional autonomy and academic freedom, it is important to be clear about both terminology and theoretical assumptions, since these notions constitute major ideological battlegrounds. A vital distinction to be made is between quality as a system and quality as interpreted and understood by practitioners′ multiple perspectives.

Citation

Elliott, G. (1993), "Whose Quality Is It, Anyway? ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING QUALITY MODELS IN FURTHER EDUCATION", Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 34-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000003447