Accreditation And Quality Assurance In Vocational Education And Training

Many resources are invested in the development and introduction of Quality Assurance Systems in educational institutions all over the world. Our assumption is that, as a result of quality assurance activities, practitioners obtain information about their own functioning and institutional performance which is new and valuable to them and which therefore will form a basis for them to improve performance. This assumption proves to be naïve; too often performance feedback is under-utilized, and evaluations become void, legitimizing rites instead of a basis for organizational learning and the improvement of institutions. The aim of this book was to find out when educational institutions do transform Quality Assurance data into actions to improve performance, and how the use of such data can be promoted. This volume reports on the study of Quality Assurance structures and activities in 36 educational institutes in 6 European Countries and presents guidelines for Quality Assurance.

Australian universities are all self-accrediting. In the absence of a system of external examiners or an independent quality assurance authority, how can anyone know how good the degrees are? New Zealand, Britain and the USA have agencies of different kinds which examine the quality assurance processes of their universities and the quality of students' work. Professional bodies in such fields as medicine and engineering assess the curriculum and standards in their fields and accredit professional schools and faculties. In the face of increasing international competition, can Australia continue with its present system unchanged? This study proposes a Modern Australian Model which builds on the self-examination processes now common in Australian universities. It proposes a national agency which shall be minimally intrusive within universities but which is still able to proclaim to the world that Australian degrees are of a good standard, carefully scrutinised. The agency will also be able to represent Australia in discussions which are beginning to take place on international accreditation.

Using case studies from schools and colleges, this book outlines different forms of assessment, highlights their purposes, and provides practical guidelines to their implementation.

This book examines vocational education and training in Korea, looking at what kinds of training is needed, how it should be funded, how they should be linked to university programmes and how employers and unions can be engaged.

This book examines vocational education and training programmes in the United States, including coverage of how they are changing, how they are funded, how they are linked to academic and university programmes and how employers and unions are involved.