European Centre for Modern Languages

Q.I.S. - Quality in Schools

An initiative of the Austrian Federal
Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
(BM:BWK)

Table of Contents

With the Q.I.S.-Quality in Schools project the Austrian Ministry of Education intends to encourage and to support schools to review, monitor and develop their own quality. Teachers, pupils and parents who occupy themselves jointly and systematically with quality issues will in future be an indispensable part of school culture. Autonomous quality assurance and quality development of schools is the precondition and starting point for a future-oriented school system of high quality.

The core element of the Q.I.S.-Initiative and every school's quality-activity is the school development plan ("Schulprogramm"). It contains the school's guiding principles, an account of the status quo and specific objectives and measures in different 'quality areas'. This plan is a temporary agreement with internal and external effect: It serves as a guideline for educational action, as information to the public, as a planning tool and a yardstick to be applied to the development of the school.

Evaluation or, in other words, methodical reviews are integral feature of the school development plan. Evaluation is needed to keep track of developments and to ascertain the implementation and the impact of measures. It has to be performed at appropriate intervals, individually and jointly, by means of feasible methods. Personal data are kept confidential. What has been achieved and what remains to be done is made visible and a common basis is created for further development steps.

Quality development and assurance can be seen as a permanent sequence of discussion, planning, implementation and evaluation. These elements form what is called the quality cycle:

Français


To facilitate quality assurance and development work, a proposal for structuring the complex area of school was made under the Q.I.S. project. The following quality areas were suggested:

  • Teaching and learning
  • Class and school climate
  • Internal and external relations
  • School management
  • Professionalism and staff development

Q.I.S. is motivation and service in one. - For all those who become involved, Material is supplied by the Ministry. The Quality Network [QN] supplies up-to-date information and provides a forum for the exchange of experience, for discussions and for the presentation of results. Additional support is given by the School Inspectorates and the teacher training institutions.

Material

Since the autumn of 1999, back-up material for quality development has been available on the internet (http://www.qis.at)

  • Guideline (General orientation, Q.I.S. philosophy)
  • Suggested standard procedures (Design of events and processes)
  • Questionnaires (Tools designed for obtaining a quick summary of the situation)
  • Open methods (Creative instruments for review and development)
  • Presentation material (Transparencies and animated screen presentation)
  • Additional texts (Background information on relevant issues)
  • Service functions (Literature, glossary, search, visitor's book)
Quality Network [QN]

For the dynamic exchange of experience and information on quality development an interactive platform is being set up on the internet. This platform will offer opportunities for discussing and presenting projects and will supply up-to-date information on interesting new developments and events. The following columns are available at the moment:

  • Inside the workshop (Projects and practical experiences, Methods and instruments, Useful tips and hints)
  • The way science sees it (Articles and comments, Trends and developments)
  • Suggestions and support (Interesting links, Expert contacts, Events, Suggested reading, Literature, Open space)

[QN] is a nation-wide system across all types of schools, equipped with several search functions. The user has the opportunity to post comments on articles and subjects. - Although most of the articles are written in German, the network is open for articles in other languages (i.e. English, French, Italian); information about the structure and handling of the application will be translated.

Q.I.S.-Team (BM:BWK):

Project Management:

Herbert Pelzelmayer
Planning & Co-ordination:

Wolfram Hiebl
Jürgen Horschinegg
Edwin Radnitzky
Technical Support:

council.net
Technology- and
Communications Services AG

To the Q.I.S. menu
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