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EUROPEAN JOURNAL
Wouter
Van den Berghe
Director Quality
Management Services,
Deloitte & Touche
Belgium
Introduction
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Table 1:
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.11
4.12
4.13
4.14
4.15
4.16
4.17
4.18
4.19
4.20
Management responsibility
Quality system
Contract review
Design control
Document and data control
Purchasing
Control of customer-supplied product
Product identification and traceability
Process control
Control of inspection, measuring and test equipment
Inspection and test status
Control of nonconforming product
Corrective and preventive action
Handling, storage, packaging, preservation and delivery
Control of quality records
Internal quality audits
Training
Servicing
Statistical techniques
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These results, when interpreted in an education and training context, are consistent with my findings and experience regarding education and training providers.
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Appropriateness of the
standard for education
and training
a way of responding to external factors, in particular pressures from customers (directly or indirectly), governments
or funding bodies;
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The late 1980s saw the introduction of industrial quality concepts (such as Total
Quality Management TQM) in a few
education and training institutes; in the
early 1990s, some pioneers embraced ISO
9000. Since then, there has been increasing evidence that the adoption of TQM
principles and methods including those
embedded in the ISO 9000 requirements
could be relevant and useful for education and training organisations.
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Interpretation issues
A particular feature of the ISO 9000 standards is the need for interpretation. Many
of the specifications laid down in the
standards need careful analysis and adequate interpretation before they can be
applied in a particular education or training context. This relates to both the terminology and to the processes concerned.
This feature is both an advantage (it allows considerable flexibility and customising, over time) and a drawback (it may
lead to insecurity and be the source of
controversy and resistance).
A critical point in the interpretation for
education and training is the definition of
the product: is it the learning output,
the learning process, or rather the education or training programme which is offered? This is not just an academic problem, but one which has implications
throughout the standard. In my view, based
on comparisons with other service sectors,
given the real difficulty of controlling the
learning process, and the choices made by
many certified education and training organisations across Europe, the most operational way to define the product in
an ISO 9000 context is as,
the education and training services offered by the organisation, including associated products, tools and services.
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the level of detail needed for documents (particularly procedures and work
instructions) which has considerable implications for document control
Implementation of an ISO
9000 based quality system
The whole process from decision to certification for a typical organisation is typically in the range of 12 to 18 months.
Thus, the relevance of adopting ISO 9000
should not only be considered in terms
of the advantages and drawbacks of the
quality system, but also in the light of the
complexity and risks of implementation.
After all, establishing a quality system is
not merely adding a few bells and whistles to an existing organisation, but is an
important change process which will
have an impact on the whole organisation. It is well known from management
consulting practice that the implementation of change processes is always difficult and risky, and that resources are often underestimated. This also applies to
the whole certification process.
Although it is dangerous to generalise
about the ideal starting requirements for
ISO 9000, my personal top ten are the
following initial conditions that:
the organisation is already well organised;
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Conclusions
Although experience with ISO 9000 in the
education and training world is still limited (a few dozen institutions in each of
the larger or more advanced European
countries), first lessons can already be
drawn.
The tangible and often compulsory requirements of ISO 9001 and 9002 standards (quality policy, quality manual and
procedures, regular audits, ...) provide an
overall, measurable framework for quality efforts, which can be used by an education and training organisation. Experience so far indicates that ISO 9000 based
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ISO 9000 is not in contradiction with any sound educational standards or practice, and can easily complement other quality approaches (in particular
those focussing on input- or
output-factors).
Bibliography
Bay, A. e.a. 1997: Linea Guida per lapplicazione
della norma UNI EN ISO 9001 al Settore della
Formazione, Tessile di Como e.a., Milano
Blackwell, C., Hector, P. & Sarfaty, D., 1995: Assurance of Quality in Continuing Education. A
Handbook (Project Aquaforce Part II). FEANI, Paris
BSI Quality Assurance, 1994: Managment Systems
of Schools. Guidance notes for the application of BS
EN ISO 9002 for the management systems of schools.
BSI Quality Assurance, Milton Keynes
BSI Quality Assurance, 1995: Education and
Training. Guidance notes on the application of BS
EN ISO 9001 for quality management systems in
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