After a decade of work with the quality counsellors who established this role and implemented it in the educational organisations where they work, the SIAE decided that it is time to take a breath and see how the role of quality counsellor has worked so far in adult education practice.
In 2017, we implemented a rather detailed self-evaluation on two levels: self-evaluation of work of the expert team at the SIAE who developed, designed and guided the operation of the quality counsellors’ network and the work of individual counsellors and self-evaluation of work of active quality counsellors in the adult education practice.
The self-evaluation study had an even wider scope, as we also wanted to find out what are the actual needs for quality guidance in adult education and collect the participants’ thoughts on the future development and systemic implementation of the role of quality counsellor in adult education.
The self-evaluation of implementation of the quality counsellor role on the level of individual organisations was made by each participating quality counsellor for the organisation where he/she works. The publications summarizes the results of the survey on implementation of the quality counsellor role, which was undertaken in 2017 in 15 organisations with an active quality counsellor. We want to take this opportunity to again thank the participating quality counsellor for their contribution to preparation and execution of the self-evaluation – for thoughtful planning and implementation of the survey in each individual organisation.
The authors of the study, Dr. Tanja Možina, Sonja Klemenčič and Jasmina Orešnik Cunja, divided the self-evaluation results into three sets with different focuses: (1) own work on quality development, (2) needs for guidance in quality development and (3) role of quality counsellor in adult education.
The key findings of the self-evaluation for each set are presented in chapter five. As a teaser, let us quote just one study finding related to the future development of the quality counsellor role: “While the survey results show that the majority of participant believes that it is good or even essential for an organisation to have a quality counsellor, we cannot overlook their messages that a suitable position has to be found for this role, both in the adult education system and in educational organisation. The participants also clearly let us know that the role should be suitably financially rewarded and that adequate working conditions should be ensured for quality counsellors.”
The main findings of the self-evaluation are followed by suggestions for further development on the level of educational organisations, on the level of the educational system and on the national level. The implementation of the self-evaluation was financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The study was also published in an electronic format (in Slovenian). Enjoy your reading!
Jasmina Orešnik Cunja (jasmina.oresnik.cunja@SIAE.si), SIAE
