Tertiary sector moves towards self-assessment

The new approach to quality assurance for tertiary education organisations is gathering momentum.

"We have been pleased to see that most tertiary organisations really get the need for changes in quality assurance (QA)," says NZQA's Deputy Chief Executive Quality Assurance, Mike Willing.

"As we have talked to people from the tertiary sector at roadshows and other meetings, most have seen the opportunity to further improve their systems with a focus on providing evidence of quality outcomes of learning and teaching."

QA is about evaluating what matters, with self-assessment the key way for organisations to find out how effective they are being.

"Self-assessment will be owned and managed by each TEO, as part of business as usual," says Mike. "The point is to use it to improve - no matter how good an organisation is already, there is always room for improvement".

There is no one right way to undertake self-assessment, he says. It is vital, however, that organisations be able to answer key questions and provide supporting evidence. Those questions include:

• How well does an organisation's work match the needs of students/ learners and others in the community?
• How effective is their teaching, and how well are learners guided and supported?
• How well do learners achieve, and what is the value of what they learn for them and others?

"Every TEO now needs to be thinking about these questions, and how well prepared they are to answer them, before self-assessment is phased in from next year," Mike says.

To support organisations as they move more into self-assessment, a set of draft evaluation indicators has been developed by NZQA and sector experts. These identify the 'valued outcomes' from self-assessment and the key processes contributing to them.

"The indicators aren't a 'how to' guide, but a flexible tool that may help organisations as they develop their own self assessment," Mike says.

A trial and mapping exercise currently underway, to understand the range of self-assessment practices already in the sector, will be used to refine and adapt the tools and support resources developed to help build the tertiary sector's capability in self-assessment.

Self-assessment will be validated by periodic external evaluation and review (EER).

"EER reports will hold a mirror up to an organisation's self-assessment and will clearly identify good and poor performance, allow comparison and be publicly available," says Mike.

All of this will be underpinned by sound regulations, and consultation with the sector on these is underway.

For the latest information on the changes to QA see the Evaluate website.