An important part of the development and expert work in the field of adult education quality is promoting the development of a culture of quality; this role can be observed through the systematic realisation of quality assessment, in planning measures for preserving the already achieved quality and the implementation of improvements to raise it. An important part in developing a culture of quality is the promotion of different approaches and methods that may serve to improve the work of educational organisations.
The Slovenian Institute for Adult Education has been working in the development of quality in adult education since 2001. Since then, we have developed different internal and external incentives for quality development. The chart below shows the rich development and implementation of these incentives:
| INTERNAL APPROACHES |
EXTERNAL APPROACHES |
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To implement a culture of quality, different incentives are very important – they reward the most diligent and those with the highest achievements. SIAE incentives for quality development in adult education intend to motivate and reward education organisations and experts who strive for the systematic assessment of the effects of their work and services in adult education and systematic implementation of quality development measures.
We developed the concept of expert external evaluation in 2011 as an upgrade or completion to the two SIAE incentives:
- The green OQEA logo and
- Award for developing quality in adult education.
In 2012 we piloted expert external evaluation in two educational organisations.
In 2012, for the successful realisation we also:
- developed and realised an educational seminar for educational organisations during which they obtained the necessary information for the participation in expert external evaluation;
- developed and realised a two-day training for expert external evaluators where we trained them to carry out expert external evaluations;
- prepared and formulated all the necessary proposals of documents and instruments (the proposal drafts on the expert external evaluation, the proposals of the educational organisation’s self-evaluation etc.) for preparation and realisation of the visit to the participating educational organisation;
- planned, coordinated and carried out two expert external evaluations,
- prepared an evaluation workshop to evaluate how far we have come.
In 2013 and 2014 we have carried out expert external evaluations in three adult education organisations. For this purpose we have:
- conducted an educational seminar for educational organisations in May,
- conducted a training for expert external evaluators in September,
- carried out expert external evaluations in October and November,
- conducted an evaluation workshop in December.
In 2015 on the basis of previous years' evaluation workshops we have renewed the criteria of the existent fields of Internal system for quality assessment and development and Support to participants in their education. We have also developed the new elective field of Development orientation of adult education organisations. Therefor we had to develop new educational seminar for educational organisations and training for expert external evaluators, prepare the necessary adaptations for the existing documents and instruments for evaluations and visits of the organizations.
In 2015 we pilot tested a web application for preparation and submissions of organizations’ self-assessments. The application has been well accepted by both organizations and evaluators and helped make everyone involved their work easier. Over the next year we plan to make some minor adjustments and upgrading of the application. The newly developed field of Development orientation of adult education organisations has also been well received, which gives us a good feedback on our development work in the field of expert external evaluations.
In 2016, as every year in the spring, we have opened a call for organizations that would like to be evaluated by the expert external evaluators who would review their presented supporting documentation and after the visit to the organization confirm where they already have a well-developed system of quality, and where they can find opportunities for their organization’s development. Follow us in the section of current events.
