DIE Zeitschrift für Erwachsenenbildung

Striving for quality is at the core of pedagogical professionalism. Therefore the science of further education has to intervene in the quality discussion in two ways: Firstly, it must develop criteria by which systems of quality assurance can be compared and by which their appropriateness for the sector of further education can be evaluated. Secondly, it must inquire yet more persistently into the specifics of pedagogical quality and find out what further education science can contribute towards qualitative excellence in the design of learning environments.

In the person of the „quality developer”, the concepts of the staff and the organisational developer merge in a common striving for more excellence. Institutions in further education that wish to take quality development into their own hands thus are defining a new temporary role that has to rely on very special competences. Elke Mathes explains about this role and adds insights on further qualification needs from the DIE course ”Quality developer in institutions of adult education”.

Quality in further education is not supposed first and foremost to serve the educational organisation itself (the „within”), but the learners (the organisation’s „without”). The ”without” should therefore have a substantial say when quality measures are developed and evaluated. Dr. Ch. Ehses and Prof. Dr. R. Zech of the ”ArtSet Institut für kritische Sozialforschung und Bildungsarbeit e.V.” explain why the external view-point – the learners’ perspective – is essential, how it can work and what qualification needs result from the roles of external counselling and evaluation.

Course teachers who cooperate in quality assurance programmes of their institutions tend to find this work gratifying in various ways: they improve their professional background, they get to look at their institutions from a new and interesting angle, and they profit from organisational improvements arising from quality projects. If, however, excessive expectations are addressed to them in the course of the quality discussion, these may readily be reflected back onto the institution and its infrastructure.

R. Jermann presents eduQua, a label that certifies certain basic standards for further education institutions in Switzerland. eduQua aims at securing and furthering the quality of further education institutions by way of the setting of basic standards, at identifying a basis for administrative decisions (certified institutions may apply for grants), and at improving transparence in the education market.

Within the bounds of constitutional law, the Federal Government has educational-political powers concerning educational contents. These it exercises in manifold programmes and initiatives, among others in the area of further education. Veronika Pahl, head of the competent department in the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) gives a summar y of the most important initiatives along with the political considerations that form their background. Quality problems are grouped in categories of input, output and process quality. On account of the pluralistic structure of the further education sector the Joint Initiative for Further Education (KAW) plays an important role in this discussion.