SICOT e-Newsletter
Issue No. 10 - July 2009
Editorial
The Planning, Organisation, Management and Quality Assurance of National Education Systems
Prof Syed Muhammad Awais
SICOT Education Centre, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan
Education is characterised by the "Teaching and Training of the Mind and Character". Wisdom is created by the combination of the "Knowledge and Character". Education in all disciplines, including medicine, is best planned, organised and managed in the light of the "Common National Education Systems".
The planning of education of a country is carried out by creating "National Educational Systems" (NES). It is aimed at meeting the educational needs of the society and has three dimensions: (i) length, (ii) width, and (iii) depth. The length must be large enough to ensure easy access to all sections of the population of the country (rich, poor, urban, rural). The width is comprised of all disciplines and subjects that are required to address all types of educational needs of the society. The depth is based upon the level of learning strategies and technologies used in delivering the education and based upon the available resources.
The organisation of NES is based upon three (3) major pillars: (i) The Education Delivery Organizations (ii) The Education Providers, and (iii) Rules of Educational Processes and Procedures. The education delivery organisations are classified into Universities and Schools. The universities are further categorised on the basis of the types of disciplines and subjects they teach. The schools are categorised according to years of teaching. The number, size and technical abilities of the universities and schools are based upon the size of the population of the country and its educational needs. The Education Providers are comprised of the teachers, managers and researchers, and their number is based upon the required teacher-student ratio and has three essential elements: (i) how they are trained, (ii) how their education delivery practices are regulated, and (iii) how they are paid. The rules of educational processes and procedures include frameworks of: (i) learning levels with their learning objectives, (ii) corresponding qualifications with their descriptors, (iii) list of the disciplines and subjects, (iv) taxonomy of learning objectives, (v) credit accumulation and transfer system, (vi) semesterisation and modularisation of the programmes, (vii) programme specifications, (viii) studentâs progress file (log book) and transcript, (ix) scoring and grade point system in examinations, (x) learning strategies, and (xi) quality assurance.
The management of the NES is carried out: (i) at government level by the political leaders, bureaucrats and technocrats, (ii) at university and school board level through their corporate managements and (iii) at department, programme or class level by the education providers. In the light of the modern thoughts of public policy, the laws, rules, regulations and policies are developed by the government with the participation of all stakeholders including the education providers. At university and school level, the regulations and policies are developed by their corporate management through close participation of the education providers. At department, programme or class level the standards of the education process and procedures are laid down and managed by the education providers.
The Quality Assurance is achieved by measuring the effectiveness of the standards of the educational processes and procedures and the learning environment. This is carried out by reviewing the education at three (3) steps: (i) the continuous monitoring is performed by the leader of the department, programme or class and is reported at the end of each calendar year, (ii) the internal review of each department, programme or class is performed by two peers (education providers) of the same subject/programme/class after every two to three years, and (iii) the external review or accreditation is performed by a third party after every five to ten years.
It is hoped that our readers will find this description useful while considering "Education Systems" at National, Institutional or Programme/class level.