Quality Management at Vocational Schools in Baden-Württemberg Göppingen, 1. October 2007

Baden Württemberg Ministry of Education, Department of Vocational Schools Central Coordination of OES Project management:Harald Wissmann Executive office: Susanne Thimet Thomas Hartmann Dr. Karl-Otto Döbber Scientific advisor:Prof. Dr. Dieter Euler, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland Home page:

1.The concept „Operatively Autonomous School“ OES (very short) 2.How to increase participation of teachers and sustainability in quality management (examples of good practice)

1.The concept „Operatively Autonomous School“ OES (very short) 2.How to increase participation of teachers and sustainability in quality management (examples of good practice)

Operatively Autonomous Schools … …take main responsibility for pedagogic questions and school management …implement quality management and take part in external evaluation … assume increasing autonomy and increasing responsibility

certification self evaluation and quality development external evaluation important objectives school philosophy Cycle of Quality Management at Schools

Quality Management at schools means: 1.Teachers get engaged in a systematical discussion of quality of core activities at their school. Depending on the issue students, representatives of training companies etc, are included. 2.On the basis of legal guidelines they decide on the ideas of quality at their school shared by all and develop a school philosophy. 3.They analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their school (self evaluation) and implement precise improvements (development of quality). 4.External evaluation assesses the performance of the school to justify the use of public funds.

Input Processes Output / Outcome Areas of School Quality teaching school management teachers´ professionalism class and school environment partnerships and external relations students and their background personal resources material resources framework learning outcome success at school and on the job client satisfaction

PDSA-Cycle or Deming Wheel of Quality Development Plan measurements for quality development P lan DoDo S tudy A ct Implement the planned measurements Evaluate the achieved results Decide how to go on (based on the evaluation)

Feedback between teachers and their students Feedback between teachers (e.g. within teams of teachers who visit the lessons of their colleagues) Individual feedback helps teachers to reflect their teaching. It is based on mutual respect. The contents discussed are confidential. Implementation of Individual Feedback

External Evaluation:Central questions External Evaluation: Central questions 1.Do systematically collected data about school quality exist at the school? 2.How does the school interpret the results? 3.Have target orientated improvements been derived and implemented? 4.Do the improvements show results?

evaluation of the school's QM documentation audit with members of the school community Structure of External Evaluation Agency for external evaluation:State Institute for School Development, Baden-Württemberg evaluation report consultation and agreement on objectives between school and school authority certification (depending on the achievement of certain standards)

Agreement on objectives between school and school authority: - school development - important issues of educational politics - resources external evaluation School authority self evaluation and quality development important objectives school philosophy Vocational School School certification Ministry of Education Agreement on Objectives

Support for headmasters, quality groups and teachers of vocational school Consultation Trained experts in quality management Experienced schools and seminars Teacher training Project management Team building Evaluation Feedback … Information Handbook OES Interactive electronic platform Meetings Resources Reduced teaching workload Financial support Support for the Implementation of Quality Management

1.The concept „Operatively Autonomous School“ OES (very short) 2.How to increase participation of teachers and sustainability in quality management (examples of good practice)

early majority 34% early adopters 13.5% Types of Innovators in Diffusion Processes in Social Systems late majority 34% innovators 2.5% laggards 16% The typology is - more or less - valid for social systems (e.g. different schools) and for people within social systems (e.g. teachers of a school).

So: Be realistic! Do not count on 100 % of the staff. Everything above 2/3 is very good!

One Result of the Evaluation of the OES-Project: “What do you think: How many of the teachers at your school take actively part in quality management?” Answer of the principals: „Around 50%“ Answer of the teachers: „Around 39%“ Answer of the quality group: „Around 34%“ (answers averaged)

So: Be very careful with your quality group. The members need the confidence of their colleagues as well as the confidence of the principal (and should have high frustration tolerance).

The Quality Group informs the staff: Information about achieved results Information about projects and involved persons Regular, easy detectable information Wall newspaper Yellow papers …

“I don't have time for quality management – what with all the lessons to prepare and to give, all the conferences, all the contacts to the vocational partners and parents... “ A typical answer from a teacher:

So: 1.Choose fields and projects for quality development which really answer the needs of the staff. (e.g. “improving the support of weaker students”) 2.Be very considerate with the working time of the staff (improve conference management, skip fruitless businesses etc.).

1.Start with all the teachers – e.g. with a “quality development day”. 2.Ask (like in EFQM): - What is important for our school? - Within all the important things: Where do we need to improve? How to identify useful fields and projects

And some more results … - Stick to the agreed targets. Quality development needs perseverance and continuity. - Provide obligation (e.g. for individual feedback), but provide different options for the teachers, too (good balance between openness and guidelines). - Use project management, but keep it simple (Deming-Wheel, agreed targets, schedules …). - Use external consultation and assistance, especially in the beginning.

- openness and transparency - participation and cooperation - target orientation … and the principal as role model! The Pillars of successful Quality Development