Quality Has To Do with Learning
The World Declaration on Education for All (1990), in addition to the well known priority to provide basic education to all children, youth and adults, notes that "whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate into meaningful development - for an individual or for society - depends ultimately on whether people actually learn as a result of those opportunities". In the global economy, it is not sufficient that children simply attend school as a right. It is essential that they learn -- that they acquire basic learning tools of literacy and numeracy; skills in problem solving; critical thinking skills, creativity and personal responsibility.
If we assert that educational quality must be linked to the achievement of learning, it is critical to know what is intended by the word learning. Educational quality, while it refers generally to the conditions which support learning, ultimately has to do with learning as a holistic concept. Educational quality, thus, is much more than the sum of improved school buildings, teacher training programs, curricular reforms, educational material development projects and the provision of achievement tests. Indeed, the central provision of these educational inputs can undermine the achievement of essential learning outcomes at the local level.
Although the implications of this concept of educational quality and learning are radical, they do not necessarily require significant increases in public sector financing. Establishment of Quality Assurance Resource Center is a concrete step by the Sindh Government to explore dimensions of what is meant by educational quality, and the implications of the shift to equating educational quality of schools with learning organizations.
In the (economically) poorer countries of the world, particularly those in Africa, South Asia and Latin America, public financing for education is unable to keep pace with rapidly increasing populations and school enrollments, resulting in a notable deterioration of school quality. This regression is occurring at a time when there is universal recognition and advocacy for quality basic education for all. It is vital to recognize that a policy of more of the same will not be sufficient to achieve the goal of quality education for all.
Understanding the Quality Challenge
In the ever-changing education and development environment, it is critical for people to have access to, make judgments about, and act rapidly on information coming to them through a variety of nontraditional media - including printed materials, radio and television, electronic networks and multimedia community kiosks. It is not just the economical and technological change that is driving a rethinking of educational quality and the question of what is learned. Personal, cultural and social issues are also critical: family decisions relating to health, nutrition, marriage, family size, and child rearing; the relationship to an increasingly exploited natural environment; the preservation and enhancement of local, vanishing cultures including traditions, values and languages; and participation in a changing political environment.
There are also now an ever-increasing number of parents and communities in both rural and urban settings who believe that formal schooling is irrelevant to the amelioration of the often harsh conditions of poverty struck households and community existence. They see the school as a way to escape the community rather than transforming it. However, increasingly, as markets and communication systems expand into all parts of society and communities, schooling is expected to make a positive contribution to the transformation of poverty within rural as well as urban areas. But clearly, to fulfill these expectations, a major change will be required in the way that schooling is conducted. Again, 'more of the same' even with greater resources, will not suffice.
Our Stand on Educational Quality
Increasingly it is becoming apparent from what we know about the processes of learning, the traditional school is not the answer, but rather constitutes much of the problem. If the focus of policy and practice for improving educational quality should not be the continuing embellishment of the traditional school, then what is quality? Quality Assurance Resource Center (QARC) aspires to take into account a literature review across the globe whilst developing a framework for quality assurance and accountability. For QARC the concept of educational quality is multidimensional and relates to:
• Outputs: learning achievements and economic/social outcomes.
• Processes: teaching, administration, supervision, education planning and policy.
• Inputs: financing, infrastructure, instructional materials, quality of teacher and staff.
• Is grounded in cultural traditions, social relations, economic and political life and therefore is unique to each nation and culture.
• Centers on community participation, dialogue and involvement in provincial and national development processes.
• Is dynamic, the definition of educational quality changes over time.
The implication of these findings is that quality is not a 'given,' or an externally defined standard. Rather, it reflects social negotiation and relationships that are based on experience informed by cycles of applied research, reflection and action. From this it follows that quality cannot be imposed; it must emerge as the result of dialogue, consultation and the development of shared definitions leading to consensus that evolves over time to meet changing circumstances.
