Quality Management in Education: A Comparative Case Study in Swedish Municipalities

Per-Olof Hansson, Elin Wihlborg

This paper focuses on the growing use of quality management in primary education and on processes at different levels, how processes can be supported either by professionals or/and technology to improve educational quality. The paper investigates quality in education by analysing data from Swedish public schools and the municipal administration. Case studies in five municipalities have been conducted, varying in size and by numbers of schools and structures of quality management. Based on this multi-case study we discuss implications. There is a need to clarify the roles and obligations of the different levels and actors in the education sectors. Further, there is a need to support and develop roles that can strengthen quality in public schools no matter of the size of the municipality administration. The support can be implemented by certain services as quality coordinators in a community of practice. Integration of new types of technology to support quality is another opportunity; people in a virtual community of practice collaborate online, share experiences and support each other in legislative matters, human resources etc. Finally, there is need to elaborate on the meanings of quality management in public settings, and open up the meanings of quality in relation to education in particular and public services in general.

Full Text