PRIMA
THE FIRST CROATIAN ASSOCIATION FOR QUALITY LANGUAGE SERVICES
Asenka Kramer
AIMS:
- promoting high professional standards in language teaching both among language schools in Croatia and among the public;
- running an accreditation scheme based on regular inspections;
- providing a professional exchange forum for language school managers in Croatia;
- providing information to customers on services in accredited schools.
HISTORY
PRIMA - the First Croatian Association for Quality Language Services was
established in Zagreb in 1995. Three years later, the representatives
of Prima attended a workshop on Quality in Language Schools coordinated
by Mr. Frank Heyworth, Secretary General of EAQUALS, and organised by
the European Centre for Foreign Languages in Graz. This was followed by
establishing quality standards within our National Association and an
Inspection Scheme.
The first round of inspections was carried out in 1999 - 6 founder schools were inspected, 4 were awarded Recommended School status. The second round of inspections was carried out in 2000 - 2 schools were inspected and both were awarded 'Recommended School' status.
After the inspection of the founder member schools, PRIMA has applied for EAQUALS membership and has become an Associate Member of EAQUALS.
At the moment there are 4 PRIMA accredited schools in Croatia, since two of the accredited schools left the Association, one of them on the grounds of financial difficulties, whereas one has decided to apply for an EAQUALS inspection and is now an EAQUALS full member.
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The Chairperson elected by the General Assembly governs the Association.
It is the General Assembly members who decide on the division of responsibilities
among themselves. It is customary for the person with the highest number
of votes to become PRIMA Chairperson.
MEMBERSHIP
PRIMA was established as an association open to representatives of all
private English language schools, which represent high professional standards
in their day-to-day operations. An accreditation scheme was established
and a first round of inspections carried out. PRIMA now consists of both
accredited and associate members, which are granted accreditation as soon
as they are ready to be inspected and pass the inspection. Accredited
members are entitled to use the PRIMA logo of the Association and state
in their advertisements that they are 'Accredited Members of PRIMA'. Membership
has legal requirements and accreditation is based on an inspection carried
out every third year.
THE INSPECTION AND ACCREDITATION PROCESS
In order to apply for an inspection, the school must submit an inspection
pack to the Recognition Scheme Committee. The inspection pack contains
the following documents:
- A copy of the school (firm, company) registration documents;
- School promotional materials: brochures, copies of newspaper advertisements, posters, leaflets, etc.;
- All documents connected with student registration in the school (rules of enrolment and tuition, contracts, registration cards, etc.);
- A list of people working in, and for the school, together with their job descriptions;
- A list of teachers, their qualifications and the number of hours taught weekly and monthly;
- A plan of the school activities including all types of courses, levels of education, number of students and names of teachers teaching particular courses. If classes are held in different places, location is also stated;
The Recognition Scheme Committee carries out an initial screening of the application to establish if the school is eligible for inspection.
A regular inspection is carried out over a period of two days by two inspectors representing accredited schools. The pass mark is 70%
The inspectors prepare a detailed report of the inspection. The report (with the inspectors' recommendation on whether or not the school should be awarded a Recognised School status) is sent to the Recognition Scheme Committee, and the committee makes a final decision on accreditation. The decision is confirmed by the General Assembly.
A pre-inspection self-assessment questionnaire is available at the PRIMA main office, together with a detailed description of the Recognition Scheme Principles. The Inspection Scheme is a public document, published in Prima No 3 (ISSN 1331-9957), available on request.
INSPECTION CRITERIA AND GRADING
The four main areas of inspection are Management and Administration, Premises
and Equipment, Professional Standards and Quality of Teaching. The category
Quality of Teaching carries the highest weighting: 200 out of a maximum
of 500.
The school is awarded the title of School Recommended by PRIMA if it achieves a pass mark in all Recognition Scheme sub-categories; if it fails in one sub-category, the school is referred for a period of 6 months. If it fails in two or more sub-categories, the school does not receive PRIMA recommendation.
