The first and foremost challenge is to anchor quality management in the organisational structure of a VET institution. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, since organisation of quality management must match the size and overall structure of a VET provider. Traditions, personal qualifications and interests have also to be considered.
Therefore the overviews in Figure 16 and Figure 17 can only serve as examples describing some points of general importance.
Figure 16. Example of a structure for internal quality management in a small VET organisation
Source: CEDEFOP.
Figure 17. Example of a structure for internal quality management in a large VET organisation
Source: CEDEFOP.
For a small VET organisation it is advisable to attribute quality management tasks (as described in Chapter 2) to a teacher or trainer as a part-time activity carried out in combination with normal teaching or training activities. The person appointed should be responsible for operational implementation and monitoring of quality management activities and report directly to the senior management team.
In any case, a quality manager’s formal position – or a quality department in large organisations – must be established under direct responsibility of senior management of the institution and must work in close cooperation with this level. In most VET institutions, heads of departments are part of the senior management team, at least regarding decision-making on quality issues, since they are responsible for putting most quality-related activities into daily practice. It is highly desirable for heads of department to be supported by official quality advocates; normally this is an additional task for a teacher, trainer or other employee in the department who has other major tasks.
Quality advocates are the most important partners for the quality manager, for implementation of quality activities at department level. Together they build the formal quality management team. Informally this team can be supplemented by quality enthusiasts personally engaged in quality issues and others who are experts in quality-related issues and are therefore entrusted with tasks closely linked to quality management such as internal data collection and data processing.
Box 28. Activities of a quality management team – an example from a large VET provider
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In this example, the quality management team of the VET institution consists of seven people with special functions and expertise, the formal members being the quality manager and two quality advocates and the informal members being the administrator responsible for scheduling teaching hours, the union representative, an external educational counsellor, and the institution’s information technology (IT) expert. The team is coordinated by the quality manager and meets at least twice a year – if needed up to four times – to discuss and operationalise the national, regional and school-specific quality goals and evaluate the latest achievements in quality. These evaluations are based on objective data collected, but for their analysis and interpretation the qualitative feedback the team members gain from their (informal) networks within the school is taken into consideration as well. Building on work of the quality management team, the quality manager prepares decisions for senior management and drafts the official quality reports (for external accountability and accreditation). The example also provides information on formal recognition of work of the quality management team. In total, the school has a ‘time budget’ of one teaching hour per pupil per year for tasks related to quality management. For the quality manager this leads to a corresponding reduction in his weekly teaching load; depending on distribution of tasks some of these hours can be given to other (formal) members of the quality team. Additionally, formal and informal quality management team members may become eligible for career development – including pay rises – in recognition of their engagement. To conclude, internal quality management needs to be organised formally, but it can function with a limited number of formal positions and specific human resources, on condition that the experience and personal engagement of employees is used. An overall quality management function will be necessary, but many tasks connected with quality issues, such as administration, data collection and analysis, might be undertaken by teachers, trainers and other employees with intermediate management responsibilities. |
To conclude, internal quality management needs to be organised formally, but it can function with a limited number of formal positions and specific human resources, on condition that the experience and personal engagement of employees is used. An overall quality management function will be necessary, but many tasks connected with quality issues, such as administration, data collection and analysis, might be undertaken by teachers, trainers and other employees with intermediate management responsibilities.
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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