Concept of quality in education

Definition of Quality Education

 Quality = Effectiveness or efficiency

 Quality of education is experienced by students

 It provides all learners with capabilities to become economically

productive.

 When we deal with quality education we mean : a standard

education must be given to all

 The content or syllabus must be same for all.

Quality depends upon characteristics of -

 Learners - (healthy, well nourished students and ready to participate and

learn)

 Environments - (healthy, safe, protective and gender – sensitive

environment, that provides adequate resources and facilities;)

 Processes - (trained teached using active methodologies)

 Content - (relevant materials for grasping basic skills & knowledge)

 Systems - (relevant good governance & educationist)

1. Quality Learners -

It is a common belief that quality learners make for quality education.

The quality of the lives of children greatly influences the kind of learners they
become.What constitutes quality learners? They include health, early
childhood experience and home support. For example, children who are
physically and psychologically healthy learn very fast.
2. Quality Learning Environment -
For any meaningful learning to occur, the environment must be
conducive.There are three principal elements that creates learning
environment. They are the physical aspect, the psychosocial and service
delivery elements.
Physical Element: factors like modern and wellequipped buildings, clean
water supply, electricity supply, classroom maintenance, space and
furniture availability, adequate library, sports ground etc.

Psychosocial Element: This requires welcoming and nondiscriminatory

climate Non –Violence climate results in War which affects children’s
mental health and their ability to learn.

Service Delivery: When one talks of service delivery, the mind focuses
on the provision of health services. Provision of heath service
contributes by reducing inattention of students in school/class.
3. Quality Processes: The process utilized in imparting knowledge
matters a lot & this depends on the teacher.There is a common saying
that – a teacher teaches what he knows. External workshop training,
and the use of interactive video technology are all devices that can
improve teachers’performance.
4. Quality Content: A good curricuture content minimises the stress &
burden of learning in students.
5. System: relevant good governance & educationist is needed in order to
provide children better education.

THIS RESULTS IN QUALITY OUTCOMES

Why quality education is important?
Access to education is important, but what important is actually learning
basic knowledge and skills in the classroom. Many children across the world
cannot read, despite of having attended school for several years.

Quality is affected by factors both inside and outside the classroom – everything from
the availability of a teacher and child’s starting point when it comes to & mother tongue
language or general health, for example - Overall, securing high-quality education is a
bigchallenge, particularly for countries with limited resources, where educational
systems are prevented from functioning normally.
What are the factors determining quality education?
Individual characteristics like age, research interests, previous
results, perception pattern, family background, and income are important
contributors to the perception of education quality. These authors show that
environmental factors such as social,economic, and cultural influences can
also play vital roles.

Other than this - the factors at which quality of education depends are -

What are the elements of quality education?

Six key elements of quality. The teacher is perhaps the most important factor
in the quality of education. A healthy, secure, protective and inspiring learning
environment, adapted for both girls and boys, is also important.

Key elements of quality

Six basic elements influence the quality of education.
1) The teacher and teaching methods

The teacher is perhaps the most important factor in the quality of education. Is he/she a
trained teacher? Personally suited? Does he/she use teaching methods that encourage
the students to participate actively?

Is the teacher present in the classroom ?

Teachers who cannot survive on their wages will become less motivated and have
frequent absences. If it takes them two to three hours to get to school, they will have
less time for preparation.

2) Educational content

Are the curriculum and the teaching material enough & relevant? Is it sufficient ?

Does the curriculum also highlight basic skills such as hygiene, nutrition, knowledge
about HIV/AIDS, conflict work, gender equality or other important national and
international issues?

3) Learning environment

Is the learning environment healthy, secure, protective, inspiring and adapted for both
girls and boys? Is there an inclusive learning environment also for minorities or
person’s with disabilities? Do the pupils learn to respect each other and the surrounding
natural environment?

Do the teachers cooperate to ensure a sound learning environment? Do they punish the
pupils? Are parents and the surrounding community included so as to ensure that the
school is a welcoming place to be?

4) School management

Is the school well run? Is the school day well organized? Is the administration of the
school transparent so that everyone can see how funding and other resources are
deployed?

Do teachers have clear parameters for how they should teach and treat pupils and
(female) colleagues? Do headteachers and the school board treat teachers with respect?

5) Preconditions for pupils

What experiences do pupils bring with them to school? Has the pupil been exposed to
special challenges such as natural disasters, abuse, child labour or AIDS? Has the pupil
grown up in an environment where girls and boys have equal opportunities?

How dissimilar is the language used at school to the one spoken at home? Are pupils
hungry when they arrive at school? Do any suffer from chronic diseases? Do they have
a long way to school and what is this like?

6) Funding and organization

Funding and organization are two important requisites for all six key elements and they
are mainly a national responsibility. A school that is not granted adequate funding and
has no clear guidelines will not be able to ensure quality.
However, each individual school must administer its own resources and organize the
work in the best possible way on its own terms.
 How can we improve the quality of education?
5 Ways Policy Makers Can Improve the Quality of Education

1. Acknowledge and address overcrowding.

2. Make funding schools a priority.
3. Address the school-to-prison pipeline.
4. Raise standards for teachers.
5. Put classroom-running and curriculum-building decisions in the hands
of the community.

Common challenges for the educational sector in many developing countries can be:

 a shortage of qualified teachers

 overcrowded classrooms
 a lack of teaching materials and poor-quality curricula
 teaching in another language than the students’ mother tongue

 Different Quality Parameters for the
Educational Institutions

Unlike most of the other sectors, education poses a serious challenge when we
try to identify the common core parameters of quality.

The main pillar of quality education is Teacher:

1. The selection of teacher.

2. Focused Professional development (Empowering teachers).
3. Cultural competence and culturally responsive).
4. More Work load on teacher.
5. Improves the attendance of teaching staffs.

Six Crucial Dimensions of Quality Education

In quality education, six dimensions of quality education is there.

1. Equity

It refers to "all learners". This term refers to non-discrimination and

equity. Equity in education means that personal and social
circumstances such as gender, ethnic origin or family background are
not obstacles to achieving educational potential and that all
individuals reach at least a basic minimum level of skills.

2. Contextualisation and Relevance

Quality education cannot be based on a blueprint that is applicable in

all situations. Solutions and adaptations of education systems must
be based on the real needs of a country and/or community.

Child-friendly Teaching and Learning

Quality education puts the child in the centre and helps it to reach
his or her full potential. Quality Education requires children’s active
participation.

Sustainability

Educational change processes often need time to be realised. By

enhancing the capacities of local education authorities, VVOB aims to
institutionalise these processes.

Balanced Approach

Quality education aims at developing a balanced set of capabilities of

children they require to become economically productive, develop
sustainable livelihoods, contribute to peaceful and democratic
societies and enhance individual well-being.

Learning Outcomes

After completing a certain level of education, children must have

developed a minimum standard of skills. Quality education requires a
results-oriented approach.

Major Indicators for Quality

Some of the suggestive key indicators, which may be said to have direct or
indirect effect on improving the quality of the teaching learning processes, may
be broadly categorized as:

Sr.
Dimensions Key Indicators
No.

Infrastructural Facilities  Classroom/ space for learning

1  Space for activities (individual and
in the School
group)
  Drinking water facilities
 Storage facilities for drinking water
 Toilet facility
 Playground and play material facilities

 Children attendance
 Teachers’ attendance

School Management and  Academic support, if possible

2  Financial support
Community Support
 TLM development support
 Learners' assessment
 Timely availability of books

 Physical Environment

 Proper lighting facility in the

classroom (sunlight)
 Social Environment

 Child-child relationship
 Teacher-child relationship
 Teacher-teacher relationship
School and Classroom
3  Teacher-administrator
Environment
relationship
 Sensitive treatment of children
from special focus groups
 Participation of the community
in school activities
 Pre-school facilities
 Facilities available for health check-up/
follow up measures
 Incentive Schemes

 Existing curriculum and its coverage

 Curriculum revision exercise
 Competency-based materials

Curriculum a Learning  Black board and its usage

4 Availability of textbooks to children
Materials and Teaching 
 Textbook production
 Distribution of textbooks
 Availability of teaching-learning
materials
  Library and its use
 Laboratory/ Kits and their use

 Existing curriculum and its coverage

 Curriculum revision exercise
 Competency-based materials
 Black board and its usage

Teacher and Teacher  Availability of textbooks to children

5  Textbook production
Preparation
 Distribution of textbooks
 Availability of teaching-learning
materials
 Library and its use
 Laboratory/ Kits and their use

 Teacher profile
 Teacher position (class-wise)
 Class teacher/ subject teacher system
 Pre-service experience
 In-service experience
 Difficulties faced during teaching

Teacher and Teacher (academic/ administrative)

6  Ability to develop and use TLM
Preparation
 Motivation level of teacher
 Teacher-community relationship
 Support available to the teachers in the
school
 Role of school management committee
in teacher preparation
 Monitoring classroom

 Classroom organization

 Seating arrangement
 Classroom setting
Classroom Practices and  Display of materials in the classroom
7
Processes  Grouping of Children
 Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR)
 Methods of introducing the topic
 Teaching-Learning Process (Pedagogy)
 Use of Teaching-Learning Materials
  Students initiative in
Teaching-Learning Process
 Assessment procedure followed
 Frequency of Assessment

 Number of days school opens in a year

 Actual number of days,
teaching-learning occurs in a year
 Number of teaching hours/ day

Opportunity Time  Number of teachers in a school

8 (Teaching-Learning  Number of sections of each class in a

school
Time)
 Number of classes that each teacher
handles (Monograde/Multigrade)
 Learners' attendance
 Number of days teachers are involved in
non-teaching assignments in a year.

 Policy adopted in the States for

 No detention
 Grade/ Marks
 Internal/ External examinations
Learners' Assessment,
 Periodicity of assessment
9 Monitoring and
(Quarterly, Half- yearly, Annual)
Supervision
 Reward/ Punishment
 Recording procedures in school
 Feedback mechanism used by teachers
 Involvement of parents
 Procedure to give feedback to parents