Education Quality in Schools: Researching Dominant Paradigms

Abstract

The chapter discusses dominant paradigms used to define, explain and measure education quality, both locally and globally. These include policy statements on quality education by UNESCO and the OECD. One of UNESCO’s first position statements on quality in education appeared in Learning to Be: The World of Education Today and Tomorrow (1972), followed by Learning: The Treasure Within, the UNESCO Report of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century (Delors J. Learning: the treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. UNESCO, Paris, 1996). The quality education debates are characterised by two broad approaches to students’ academic performance: those that emphasise the technical and rational nature of the outcomes, and those that stress its negotiated nature. In most instances the former approach prevails. It emphasises an output-based approach which is influenced by the performance indicators such as those used in the OECD’s PISA study which regularly measures academic performance of students in member and non-member nations (see PISA. PISA worldwide ranking – average score of math, science and reading. Retrieved from http://factsmaps.com/pisa-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-math-science-reading/, 2018a). Many countries are influenced by OECD performance indicators, and by adopting them, set up their own systems of quality control based on the measurement of students’ academic achievement. This chapter addresses issues in education quality, quality teaching and student outcomes globally. The chapter argues that education quality, students’ performance and quality teaching involve the establishment of motivational and engaging quality teaching and learning environments, a well as quality relationships among students and teachers. Such engaging environments and relationships are supportive, and inclusive, where teachers demonstrate a strong sense of self-efficacy and beliefs in their students’ abilities to master high quality learning. Students in such classes are regularly provided with learning tasks of high intellectual quality. Finally, quality teaching and learning helps students to develop effective critical thinking skills and metacognition, and self-regulated learning skills. The major challenge in improving quality teaching in schools lies in developing specific pedagogy, values, structures and approaches, which ensure widespread use of effective and successful classroom pedagogies.