Defining quality in education

Chile’s programme for quality improvement in primary schools (SIDA, 2000) In 1990, the Ministry of Education in Chile undertook a programme to improve the quality of primary schools in disadvantaged areas of the country. Approximately 10 per cent of the country’s existing primary schools(about 1,200) took part in the programme at a cost of just under $17 million in U.S. dollars. This included about 7,000 teachers, 400 supervisors, and 200,000 students. The programme had at least four significant components. First, it provided for the improvement of learning environments, including improvement of infrastructure and provision of classroom libraries and learning materials. Second, it addressed the critical process element of teacher and supervisor training through weekly workshops in school with teachers from grades one through four. This training centred on improving teaching methods for basic skills and working more effectively with the local culture and community. During...

The environment, content and processes that learners encounter in school lead to diverse results, some intended and others unintended. Quality learner outcomes are intentional, expected effects of the educational system. They include what children know and can do, as well as the attitudes and expectations they have for themselves and their societies. Achievement in literacy and numeracy. Academic achievement in general and achievement in literacy and numeracy in particular represent key educational outcomes. Teaching students to read, write and calculate is often considered the primary purpose of formal education, but students’ regular attendance and attention in school does not guarantee this outcome. Investigations into literacy levels in recent years have shown that children in developing countries had lower levels of literacy than children in high-income countries who had received similar amounts of schooling (Willms, 2000). A large scale study in Bangladesh dem...