Issues in the first year

Project summary (Please give a brief and clear description of your project proposal of maximum 200 words; note that this description may be used for publication) :

The object of the project is to organize a constant exchange of experience regarding QMsystems between the partners of the project and to optimize the system. Hereby, we want to improve the acceptance of QM among all employees working at the participating schools.

The focus is placed on self-evaluation in the following fields:

• Quality of the educational process

• Relationships and structures of communication between the school partners (i. e. parents, companies, chambers etc.)

• Management of schools and management of the educational process

The project partners will identify exemplary processes in their schools. These processes will be evaluated with the help of suitable instruments. The experience gained will be exchanged and applied to one’s own system in order to examine the system of the partners and to improve one’s own. In this way we will try to develop an optimal tool for internal and external evaluation.

In detail, the project will improve the following issues in the participating schools:

• Evaluation will be a natural instrument of improvement in the QM-process at school for all participants (management, teachers, students, parents and chambers)

• The participation in QM-processes and evaluation will reinforce the sense of responsibility of all employees, students and parents and will strengthen the identification with the institution (i. e. the school).

• The work in the project will create and enlarge the consciousness for the necessity of a constant QM-process and thus create more acceptance for change.

• The project will improve the framework for a constant QM-process and the evaluation at schools.

• The results of the international project will influence the regional project being under way in Baden-Württemberg (OES) and dealing with an internal and external evaluation of vocational schools.

1.       Which activities do you intend to carry out in the course of the project?

Please provide a general overview of the activities planned for the whole project duration (i.e. max. 3 years for a School or School Development Project; max.2 years for a Language Project). This question relates to both project activities which are planned to take place locally within the participating institutions, as well as to transnational mobility activities[1] for staff and pupils.

The documents on the different QM systems (EFQM, ISO..) will be presented in a special web-platform from July 2005 onwards so that the partners can prepare their work individually. At the beginning of September 2005, there will be a web-conference, where the timetable of the first meeting in Naestved will be fixed. The partners will present their QM-systems in the meeting in Denmark and point out their particular advantages.

The main focus of the synopsis in the first year will be on the educational process. The criteria fixed for the evaluation of the educational process will be applied for the analysis. We will discuss the how objective (marks, exam results, willingness to gain further skills among the colleagues..) and subjective (evaluation of the teachers’ performance in lessons..) criteria can be fixed, measured (evaluated) and interpreted or analysed. It is very important to deal with the strengths and weaknesses identified in the evaluation process and set targets with the colleagues involved.

In Denmark, the schools participating in the project will be charged with evaluating the educational process and carrying out evaluations in selected classes.

The findings and measures taken to improve quality will be published in reports in the internet platform by end of February and will be put up for discussion among the participants.

In April 2006, in a web conference, the schools involved will prepare a meeting that will take place in Manresa.

During this meeting in Manresa the instruments used by the individual members will be evaluated. This evaluation will be supported by the regional institute of quality management. At the same time, there will be an evaluation of the course of events of the process and the results of the first year and the terms and conditions for the publication of the findings will be laid down.

During the meeting in Manresa the participants will stipulate the procedure in the second year. The focus then will be placed on the communication with the school partners.