Education Quality ManagemeEDUCATION QUALITY MANAGEMENT AS PANACEA FOR SUSTAINABLEnt as Panacea for Sustainable

8/9/2019 Education Quality ManagemeEDUCATION QUALITY MANAGEMENT AS PANACEA FOR SUSTAINABLEnt as Panacea for S

1/6


2/6

European Journal of Educational Studies 4(2), 2012

234

far more tremendously to a nations gross domestic product than a large pool of irrelevantly educated

population. It is note worthy and highly pathetical that for the past three decades Nigerian educational

system continues to witness enormous quantitative growth at the expense of qualitative development.

Thus, the current education reforms in the education sector in Nigeria in the areas of planning,

curriculum innovation and teacher education among others are management mechanism to revamp

education industry to instill sustainable school quality reform.

The deteriorating quality of education which has continued unabated impinges heavy traumatic effects on

Nigeria citizens and the nation as a whole (Adewuya, 2002; Alumode, 2006; and Ezenwafor, 2006). As

noted by Gidado (2003) indicators of declining quality and wastages include high dropout, failure rates,

rampant examination malpractices and low performance in national survey of achievement. Effective

school quality reform that can stand the text of time must go beyond quality control practices. Without

quality education becomes a waste. Without quality product becomes largely counter productive, half

baked and of little relevant to the nations socio-political and economic development. Previous reform

effort includes the 1969 National Curriculum Conference, the introduction of 6-3-3-4 education system

in 1982, the education Reform Blue Print of 2000 and the introduction of the Universal Basic EducationProgramme in 1999. As noted by Herman and Herman (2000,P.57) reform requires fundamental and

comprehensive change. Otherwise piece meal attempts at reform cannot do much but perpetuate the

statusquo. This necessarily calls for purposeful re-engineering. It implies an urgent need for

fundamental rethinking in order to refocus and to redirect Nigerian educational system towards achieving

dramatic improvement in critical contemporary measures of qualitative performance.

The new quality reform effort is to be characterized by Total Quality Management (TQM) principles,

which are systems thinking and customer focus. However, a responsible political class, responsive and

sustainable economy, an efficient and effective leadership are all required to make the system work.

With commitment and determination, quality can be restored to the Nigerian educational system. The

significance of this paper is predicated on the need for sustainable school quality reform in Nigeria. Thus,

the paper discusses the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) as a panacea towards enhancingquality education in Nigeria.

Background Reform from Quality Control to Quality Assurance

Quality control practice in Nigeria is based essentially on school inspection, monitoring and control.According to West Burnham (1994), quality control is concerned with product testing, responsibility

with supervisors, limited quality criteria and paper based system. The rational model has not provided

effective educational reform. School inspection is particularly criticized for its limitation as post

mortem examination of school activities. Hence, the need for quality assurance.

Quality assurance deals with the proactive or preventive means of ensuring quality inputs, teaching-

learning process, the outcome and the academic achievement of students, (Akudo, 2004; Babalola, 2004).

Quality assurance aimed at getting thing done right at the first time and every time. The perverse nature

of TQM is perhaps its most distinctive characteristics, unlike the traditional quality control methods.

TQM aims at organization wide quality consciousness. It looks beyond the confines of the quality control

department and reaches out to management at all cadres.

Total Quality Management (TQM) in Education

The first wave of quality reform was characterized by industrially constructed Total Quality Management(TQM) principles in the 1990s and a statistical focus for standard and production control, had given way

to a second wave, focusing on meeting clients need and value creation. Recently, education leaders now

recognize the potential for TQM as applied to educational organizations. Its application to the education

sector was propelled by the fact that educating people was viewed as the same as the business of

producing goods and services in an economy (Melisratos and Arendt, 1995).

Quality is related to a body of knowledge about products, services and customer/client satisfaction. Theterm is not a synonym for excellence or goodness such as quality car or quality food (colleen, 1999).

Quality is creating an environment where educators, parents, government officials and community

representatives work together to provide students with the resources they need to meet current and futureacademic and societal needs (Arcaro, 2005). Quality has to be seen in terms of relationships rather than


3/6


235

intangible and unattainable goals. The crux of the relationships may be seen from a hierarchy of

approaches with inspection at one end of a spectrum and TQM at the other (inspection; post production

review, Quality control; product testing, Quality Assurance; audit Quality systems and Total Quality

Management; aiming at continuous improvement). In a World Bank discussion paper, Bruce (1986)

associated school quality with students level of academic performance and further elaborated those

schools with low test scores, high drop out rates, and repetition rates are allegedly of low quality.

According to Igwe (2004) quality education entails that the output of institutions are acceptable,desirable, beneficial, efficient or effective. Total Quality Management is a philosophy with tools and

process for practical implementation aimed at achieving a culture of continuous improvement driven byall employees of an organization in order to satisfy and delight Customer /client (West Burnham, 1995).

(T1) According to Enefiok (2006) the ultimate goals include the attainment of total customer satisfaction

through defect free products and quality service, the identification and exploitation of competitors

weakness and harnessing of untapped market opportunities among others.

Total Quality Management philosophy is built upon tenets that can be applied to any organization. They

are systems thinking, client focused, continuous improvement, management by fact, participatorymanagement, professional development, team work and leadership (Baldrige National Quality Program,

2001; Ojo, 2006). System theory establishes a strong interdependency and interrelatedness among the

component parts that make a system (Dening, 1994) while the term client encompasses not only students

but also stake holders such as private and public owners, funding agencies and potential employers.

Total Quality Management [TQM] and School Organizational Performance

Increasing demand in educational institutions for accountability makes it imperative for our schools to

fulfil their obligations to the clients by improving and sustaining quality education (Ajayi; 2004,

Madumere-Obike; 2004). As noted by Ojo (2006) TQM is a management programmes that is quality-

centred and providing satisfaction to the organizational clients and the realization of organizational goals

objectives. This is probably in line with the view of Babalola (2004, P.47) TQM aimed at preventingquality problems and ensuring that only conforming products reach the students. Also, Tony and Mariane

(2000) opined that most colleges should recognize that continuous improvement is essential if they are to

survive and prosper. This is based on the fact that the pre-eminent principle for quality management is

not control but improvement.

Further on quality management and performance, Senge (2000) and National Commission on Excellence

in Education (1993) noted that schools that innovates and improve are these that approach change from asystem perspective and the more systemic the change the more the sustainability of the reform. However,

Melissaratos and Arendt (1995) and Nicklin (2001) report that the application of TQM in higher

education in the United States proved successful because of the positive attitude to its application in the

education. While Ojo (2006) discovered that people are aware of the importance of the use of TQM and

that TQM enhances students performance. Umoru-Onuka (2003) shows very, clearly that the use of

TQM in some Nigerian schools yielded good results and tremendously improved teaching and learning.

It is worthy of note that TQM looks beyond the boundaries of an organization and extend prominence to

the interest of its clientele (Birnbaum, 2001 and Ojo, 2006). The benefit of this focus is further

evidenced by the 2001 Baldrige Award Winners in education. Chugach School District (CSD) in

Anchorage, Alaska and Pearl River School District (PRSD) in Pearl River, New York. Throughsystemic changes and consistent emphasis on student achievement both district have made significantimprovements (Jacqueline, 2005).

Implications of Total Quality Management in Education

The emphasis on totality means, it is inclusive of all the employees. In education this would include

support staff as well as teaching and lecturing staff. There is shared understanding of an explicit set of

values with implications for leadership and management style, therefore the school leadership must not

only be visionary, they must be a missionary with zeal. All decisions are based on supporting data;

therefore, nothing is determined by feelings of precedent. TQM is based on prevention and concern with

optimizing outcomes. Customer focused rather than provider needs and customers are both external (e.g.

students and parents) and internal (e.g. staff), this implies that each teacher will be a client to the next


4/6


236

teacher by providing at least near perfect pupils for the next class (Tony and Mariane, 2000; West

Burnham, 1994).

Quality management will be hailed as the most important paradigm shift to come out of the twentiethcentury. Indeed, if school organization management principles do not include management by fact,

continuous improvement, the constant pursuit of excellence, knowing how to do the right thing, the first

time not only will they not be in the game, they will not survive.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations are made with a view to enhancing sustainable school quality reform in

Nigeria;

Decision making (on possible policy orientations, mobilizations and the channeling of resources, e.t.c)should be based on sound footing of systematically collected information and technically sound data,

interpreted with the help of appropriate type of hindsight and factual knowledge. Therefore, the planning

and research unit of ministries of education will accordingly need to be strengthened in terms of; re-

skilling, re-tooling up-dating of knowledge and improved funding. This will be a means of equipping

them for the task of ensuring quality in education.

Steps should be taken to build capacity for day to day instructional and management supervision at thelocal level. There is need to institute a vigorous education and self improvement programmes. Every staff

should be properly educated on the quality philosophy, therefore seminars, conferences and workshops

should be made compulsory.

There is need to institute the practice of periodic and regular assessment of educational process.

Considering various inputs and the processes involved in relation to the performance of the entire systemand use the result to drive continuous improvement on the systems and processes. The management must

re-affirm that quality improvement never ends.

A strong and visionary administrator is a criterion for quality in schools. Administrators should be able todefine the school mission, manage curriculum and instruction, be truthfully focused and be able to

encourage individuals to communicate to the management, the obstacles they face in attaining their

improvement.

Government should seriously address the data problem in planning the nations educational programmes.

It has not been possible to extrapolate school-age population figures from published census data, in a

situation whereby the national population census is over-politicized. The situation has given rise to the

phenomenon of discordant data and even guesstimates become impossible.

Education sector needs to be adequately funded by the government. Reform should be tied to the

availability of the requisite resources to achieve them, with poor funding it is impossible to implementreforms that provide quality education. Therefore, United Nations recommendation of at least 26% of

the annual budget for education sector should be implemented.

CONCLUSION

The gradual erosion of standards is perhaps the most prominent feature and obviously the most

disheartening aspect of the Nigerian educational system in the past three decades. Scholars and

educational managers are particularly worried about the deteriorating quality of education and its adverseeffect on the nations socio-political and economic development. Despite huge amount of nations

resources and all efforts being dedicated to reform, quality has not been attained.

After well over forty years of political independence, there is an urgent need to redirect and refocus

Nigerian education at all levels to avoid wastages. The traditional practice of quality control through


5/6


237

school inspection, monitoring and control is a mere damage mechanism, with retroactive action taken

after possible damage is done. TQM develops a culture of total commitment to quality process, and

quality improvement never ends. The introduction and application of Total Quality Management (TQM)

Philosophy is both proactive and preventive. Thus it aims at getting things done right, at the first time

and every time.

REFERENCES

Aduwaya, S.A. (2002). Comparative education. An Unpublished paper presented in the institute of

education, University of Ado-Ekiti.

Ajayi, K. (2004). Minimum Standards and accountability in University education. In B.A. Eheazu &

M.O Ivowi (Eds.), Minimum standards and accountability in Nigerian educational system(pp.62-66). PortHarcourt: Mercury International Publishers.

Akudo, F.V (2006) Towards efficient staff development and utilization for quality assurance in higher

institutions in Anambra state. Nigerian Journal of Educational Administration and Planning 6

(1), 1820.

Alumode, B.E. (2006). Strategies for improving human resources management for quality education in

universities in South Eastern states of Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Educational Administration

and Planning 6(1) 53-55

Arcaro, J. (2005). Quality in education: An implementation handbook. Delary Beach: St Lucie Press.

Babalola, J.B.(2004).Quality assurance and child-friendly strategies for improving public school

effectiveness and teacher performance in a democratic Nigeria in E. Fagbamiye, J. Babalola, M.

Fabunmi, & A. Ayeni (Eds.) Management of primary and secondary education inNigeria,(pp.44-49). Ibadan: NAEP Publications.

Baldrige National Quality Programme (2001).Educational criteria for performance excellence.

Washington DC: National Institute of Standard and Technology.

Birnhaum, R.(2001).Total quality management/continuous quality improvement. In R. Birnabum. (Ed.),

Management fads in higher education, (pp.75-77). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. A Willey Co.

Bruce, F. (1986). World Bank discussion paper II. raising school quality in developing countries .Washington D.C: The World Bank.

Tony B. Mariane (2000). Leadership and strategic management in education. London: Paul Chapman

Publishing Ltd.

Collleen, L. (1999).Managing Quality and standard. Buckingham Philadephia: Open University Press

Deming, W.E. (1994). The new economics for industry, government and education.(2nd ed.).

Cambridge-mass: Massahusett Institute of Technology.

Enefiok, E.E (2006). Limitations of total quality management (TQM) as a tool for management. Journal

of Management and Enterprise Development 3 (1), 5152.

Ezenwafor, J.I. (2006). Strategies for motivating lecturers in tertiary institutions in the South East zone

for better performance to assure quality in higher education. Nigerian Journal of Educational

Administration and Planning 6(1), 165-169

Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004)National policy on education. (4th ed.). Lagos: NERDC Press.


6/6


238

Gidado, T. (2003).Basic education in Nigeria. Ibadan: Striling-Horden Publishers (Nig) Ltd.

Herman, J. & Herman, J.L. (2000). Quality management: Effective schools through systematic change .

Lancaster: Technical Publication Co.

Igwe, S.O. (2004) Quality and evaluation in teaching and learning in Nigerian education. In B.A. Ehiazu

& U.M.O, Ivowi (Eds.), Minimum standards and accountability in the Nigerian educationalsystem,(pp.81-86) Port Harcourt: Mercury International Publishers.

Jacqueline, S.G. (2005).Building excellence and equity in student performance.Retrieved May 20, 2005.

fromhttp://www.chugachschools.com

Madumere-Obike, C. (2004). Managing staff for quality assurance. The secondary education sector. In

B.A. Ehiazul & M.U.I.Ivowi (Eds.),Minimum standards and accountability in the Nigerian

educational system, (pp.92-95). Port Harcourt: Mercury International Publishers.

Melissarato, A. & Arendt, C.(1995). TQM: the westing house experience in A.M. Hoffmam & D.J.

Julius, (Eds.). Total quality management: Implication for higher education , (pp.45-47).

Maryvile Mo:Prescott.

National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983). A nation at risk. Washington Dc: U.S.Government Printing Office.

Nicklin, J.L. (2001). Corporate buzzword in higher education. London: Routledge.

Ojo, L.B. (2006). Total quality management and productivity improvement amongst teachers and

learners in private secondary schools in Lagos State.Unpublished manuscript. Post field report.

University of Ibadan. Ibadan, Nigeria.

Senge, P.N. (2000). Schools that learn. New York: Dovbleday Press

Umoru-Onuka, A.O. (2003). Total quality management: A technique for improved student achievement.

NigerianLibrary and Information Science Review21(1), 82-86

West-Burnham, J. (1995). Total quality management in education. London: Pitman Publishing.
http://www.chugachschools.com/http://www.chugachschools.com/

Documents

Education Quality ManagemeEDUCATION QUALITY MANAGEMENT AS PANACEA FOR SUSTAINABLEnt as Panacea for Sustainable