It starts at the top with 100% commitment. Leadership is one of the keys of TQM, and usually what happens is that the infrastructure and support of the staff do not provide the toolsets and commitment needed to make it a go. As a result, TQM is viewed as just another same old grant program or book of the month. Secondly, you need buy in by everyone, from the suprintendant to the cleaning staff. Again, driven not by mandate, by what the right thing to do is. It is a cultural change. Only go down the path is the culture is willing. Half hearted attempts usually result in failure… I’m not saying you need 100% commitment, as thats impossible in a diverse teaching staff, but amongst those who are commited, they need to be passionate 100%
Process development is another aspect, which also ties into continuous improvement. Its not so much learning the material, or teaching to a test, but a continuous process of test and debug of the process of education.
The simplest analogy would be test question analysis. We all know the goals of a good test question. We start out on a test with 50 such questions, and tweak and refine them from year to year to weed out the bogus ones, and improve the marginal ones. This has been done in education since the early days of the Greeks. What TQM can do is apply the same in other areas, thus improving teaching effectiveness. Realistically, this is an easy sell, as staff has already been doing it. All you are asking for is too widen it to the other areas.
And then the toughest one. Team connections, and this means everyone, and it will be an insanely tough sell. This may be an arena that is best approached with baby steps. Eg, staff synergy and collaboration is a whole lot easier than making the students an integral part of TQM.
haratu says
The first step in any type of quality management is to find a good manager.
One of the largest problems in schools, and for that matter anywhere, is that people think theat they are the ones to bring quality management… this is a wrong idea, never think that quality management must be done by you. More often than not a parent will think they are the ones do do such and then make it so difficult for the teachers that the word "quality" just drops off the radar.
So first step is to find someone else.
The next step is to realise that there is no such thing as "total" quality management… or to be more correct, there is no such thing as "successful" total quality management.
No matter how hard you try there will always be an area that simply does not stand up to your expectations, if it does, then it will not stand up to someone elses expectations.
So the second step is to lower your expectations. (this will mean you are more pleased if it goes above expectaions)
The final step in applying total quality management is to learn that one person does not do it themselves. It is necassary for all teachers to apply to the guidelines set, not only this, but they must also take part in the formation of such guidelines.
Thus the final step is to include everyone
I would recommend starting smaller… like
"How do I apply quality management in my school?" or,
"how can I influence others to apply quality management in my school?", perhaps even
"Who knows of a school that has good experience with quality management?"
Tough question!
It starts at the top with 100% commitment. Leadership is one of the keys of TQM, and usually what happens is that the infrastructure and support of the staff do not provide the toolsets and commitment needed to make it a go. As a result, TQM is viewed as just another same old grant program or book of the month. Secondly, you need buy in by everyone, from the suprintendant to the cleaning staff. Again, driven not by mandate, by what the right thing to do is. It is a cultural change. Only go down the path is the culture is willing. Half hearted attempts usually result in failure… I’m not saying you need 100% commitment, as thats impossible in a diverse teaching staff, but amongst those who are commited, they need to be passionate 100%
Process development is another aspect, which also ties into continuous improvement. Its not so much learning the material, or teaching to a test, but a continuous process of test and debug of the process of education.
The simplest analogy would be test question analysis. We all know the goals of a good test question. We start out on a test with 50 such questions, and tweak and refine them from year to year to weed out the bogus ones, and improve the marginal ones. This has been done in education since the early days of the Greeks. What TQM can do is apply the same in other areas, thus improving teaching effectiveness. Realistically, this is an easy sell, as staff has already been doing it. All you are asking for is too widen it to the other areas.
And then the toughest one. Team connections, and this means everyone, and it will be an insanely tough sell. This may be an arena that is best approached with baby steps. Eg, staff synergy and collaboration is a whole lot easier than making the students an integral part of TQM.
The first step in any type of quality management is to find a good manager.
One of the largest problems in schools, and for that matter anywhere, is that people think theat they are the ones to bring quality management… this is a wrong idea, never think that quality management must be done by you. More often than not a parent will think they are the ones do do such and then make it so difficult for the teachers that the word "quality" just drops off the radar.
So first step is to find someone else.
The next step is to realise that there is no such thing as "total" quality management… or to be more correct, there is no such thing as "successful" total quality management.
No matter how hard you try there will always be an area that simply does not stand up to your expectations, if it does, then it will not stand up to someone elses expectations.
So the second step is to lower your expectations. (this will mean you are more pleased if it goes above expectaions)
The final step in applying total quality management is to learn that one person does not do it themselves. It is necassary for all teachers to apply to the guidelines set, not only this, but they must also take part in the formation of such guidelines.
Thus the final step is to include everyone
I would recommend starting smaller… like
"How do I apply quality management in my school?" or,
"how can I influence others to apply quality management in my school?", perhaps even
"Who knows of a school that has good experience with quality management?"