New Perspectives in Science Education
The QUAL4T2 Method - Improving Quality in Teacher Teams
Margrieta Kroese, Landstede Groep (The Netherlands)
Anabel Menica, Politeknika Ikastegia Txorierri (Spain)
Francesca Di Paolantonio, Associazione CIOFS-FP (Italy)
Abstract
No matter which sector of education you´re involved in, no matter the discipline you teach, undoubtedly like every educator you strive to achieve ever better results and to contribute to a culture of quality improvement. Why? Because like every educator you want the best quality education for your pupils, students or trainees.
The QUAL4T2 project aims to address this objective. The full name of the Erasmus+ funded project is: ‘Further Quality Improvement for Vocational Education and training: Guiding Teacher Teams in Europe in strategy planning’. It aims to introduce a bottom-up approach to the development of a solid team culture and the design and implementation of strategic planning by teacher teams.
A method for monitoring the teams and the provision of simple quality tools helps teacher teams create a culture of continuous improvement and raise the quality of their educational program.[1]
The Qual4T2 project is now in the final phase. This paper summarizes the outcomes of two and a half years’ work, including the one-year pilot experience in five VET organizations in Denmark, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. A Toolkit providing a range of tools for quality improvement in teams, a Quality Guide for Teams and a Story book about the one-year pilot have been developed. The tools and Guide have all been piloted; the final versions of each are based on valuable teacher/trainer feedback gathered in two reports: a research report and a pilot report. The pilot report shows the progress that all pilot teams have made. [2] The tools in the Toolkit are centered around three main areas: A - Working on Quality Culture; B - Design your Team Plan and C – Various Team Plan Models. All tools can be downloaded for free from the website www.qual4t-project.org [3]
Keywords: Education, team, quality, quality improvement, planning, quality culture, research, pilot, professional training;
References:
[1] Kroese, M.; Peters, N. “About QUAL4T2”, www.qual4t-project.org , Zwolle, 2017, last visited on 22-01-2019
[2] Di Paolantonio, F.; Kroese, M.; Menica, A.; Kazantzidou, N.; Dyrløv, G. “International Pilot Report”, Rome, QUAL4T2-project consortium, 2018, pages 3, 57
[3] Kroese M., Peters, N. Website QUAL4T2 project, www.qual4t-project.org, section tools QUAL4t2, last visited on 22-01-2019
