Introduction

Education plays a major role in the development of a state. It is extensively accredited that
quality in education is the solo most important tool in strengthening human capabilities and
achieving the desired goals. On one hand it provides a literate workforce for the country and on
the other side it works like a feeder for the other sectors of the economy which directly or
indirectly depends upon the quality of education. Quality in education has its own importance
because it adds to progress and prosperity directly or indirectly. Quality in education plays the
role of bridge to all next coming stages of a person’s life. Therefore, the progress and
development of any nation depends directly on the quality in education. Furthermore, quality in
education can prepare students who can face the challenges of global market. It is against this
background that the paper seeks to identify and examine four indicators of quality in education.
In the process, the paper will also discuss how education leaders can contribute towards the
promotion of such quality in relation to the effectiveness of an organisation. Key terms will be
defined and a conclusion will give a brief summary of the paper.

Definition of Key Terms

Uvah (2015) defined quality in education as multidimensional concept embracing all functions
and activities of a learning institution including teaching, academic programmes, research and
scholarship, staffing, students, buildings, facilities, equipment, services to the community and the
academic environment. In line with this, UNICEF (2010), says quality in education is the totality
of features and characters of an education system that bear on its ability to satisfy given needs of
the learners and stakeholders. Therefore, one can conclude that quality in education is the extent
to which the learning and teaching services are sustainable for the intended purpose while
satisfying learner and stakeholders expectations.

An educational leader has been defined by Northouse (2003) as an individual tasked with
enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, learners, and parents toward achieving
common educational aims. Leithwood (1999) adds that an educational leader is a person who
takes the lead in ensuring academic success through process, material and training
improvements, through collaboration with different individuals, such as facilitators, parents,
learners, public policy makers and the public. From the above definitions, one can conclude that,

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in simple terms, an education leader is a person who works with and guides teachers toward
improving teaching and learning processes.

Quality Learners
One indicator of quality in education are the quality learners. School systems work with the
children who come into them. The quality of children’s lives before beginning formal education
greatly influences the kind of learners they can be. Many elements go into making a quality
learner, including health, early childhood experiences and home support. Physically and
psychosocially healthy children also contribute to quality in education. Healthy development in
early childhood, especially during the first three years of life, plays an important role in
providing the basis for a healthy life and a successful formal school experience (McCain &
Mustard, 2009).

Regular attendance for learning fosters quality learners who in turn contribute towards quality in
education. When they reach school age, research demonstrates that to achieve academically,
children must attend school consistently. A child’s exposure to curriculum, which is his or her
opportunity to learn, significantly influences achievement, and adds to the general quality in
education, and exposure to curriculum comes from being in school (Fuller, 2009). In the district
where the writer practices, students with higher rates of attendance had greater learning gains
and lower rates of repetition, a finding that is consistent with many other studies (Miske and
Dowd 2018).

Educational leaders can help promote quality in learners. for example, the school administration
supports the acquiring of learning materials for the ECD learners, such as charts, books and
pencils or crayons. The school administration also supports quality in education by having play
centres installed. They supervise facilitators on a regular basis to ensure they are implementing
the curriculum. In addition, they recruit facilitators that are skilled and competent enough to
teach ECD and other classes. The school administration puts in place measures to ensure that
truancy and unnecessary absenteeism do not occur. This may include oral, and written warnings,
as well as one-on-one sessions with the erring learners’ parents.

On the other hand, the district officer and provincial director also play a part in upholding quality
in learners at various schools across the district and province respectively. They ensure that

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school heads are competent enough to handle and produce quality in learners, which in turn
contributes to the general quality in schools. They pay regular visits to schools in their districts
or provinces, to supervise the teachers and school administration, ensuring that they are working
together towards achieving quality in education. The assessment reports they make should be
constructively critical, to help improve standards and quality of organisations.

Quality Learning Environments

Learning can occur anywhere, but another indicator of quality in education, that is often sought
by educational systems happen in quality learning environments. Learning environments are
made up of physical, psychosocial and service delivery elements. Physical learning environments
or the places in which formal learning occurs, range from relatively modern and well-equipped
buildings to open-air gathering places. (Willms, D., 2000) Fuller (2009) argues that learners
whose schools lack classroom materials and had an inadequate library were significantly more
likely to show lower test scores and higher grade repetition than those whose schools were well
equipped, thus reducing the quality in education at a school.

Quality in education is also seen by peaceful, safe environments, for learners, especially for girls.
Fuller (2009) posits that within schools and classrooms, a welcoming and non-discriminatory
climate is critical to creating a quality learning environment. In the district where the writer is
stationed, attitudes discouraging girls’ participation in education have been significant barriers to
providing quality education to all students, thus reducing the quality in education generally in the
district. Furthermore, at school, teachers often require girls to do maintenance work while boys
study or play, and allow boys to bully girls.

Reducing other forms of discrimination is also a critical indicator of quality improvement in

learning environments. Although most educational policies include some philosophy of
inclusion, significant gaps between policies and actual practices in schools and classrooms exist
(Mitchell, 2015). Children of ethnic and language minorities, geographically disfavoured groups,
and groups at low socio-economic levels may also suffer from discriminatory policies and
practices that hinder the advancement of quality education for all children. This can occur by
excluding such children from school or by excluding their participation in school once they are
attending. This also lowers the quality in education, because children who have potential to excel
in their studies are being hindered from accessing education.

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The school administration promotes a quality learning environment by ensuring that furniture,
fixtures and books are still in shape, and still in a usable state. School administration maintains
and refurbishes the school pathways, ablution facilities, sports ground and classroom windows,
floors and doors. The school administration must prioritise the purchase of learning materials
such as textbooks and Information and Communication Tools (ICTs). McCain and Mustard
(2009) are of the idea that the school administration takes a lead in reducing discrimination, by
having in place a recruitment system that opens the door for all the learners. In addition, the
District Officer makes follow ups to ensure schools have enough furniture and textbooks. They
enforce strict measures against those school heads that promote discrimination by refusing to
enrol learners with disabilities, or who are female. Hence, by so doing, they will be promoting
quality in education.

Quality Content
Quality content is another indicator of quality in education, and refers to the intended and taught
curriculum of schools. National goals for education, and outcome statements that translate those
goals into measurable objectives, should provide the starting point for the development and
implementation of curriculum (UNICEF, 2010). Quality in education is promoted by means of
student-centred, non-discriminatory, standards-based curriculum structures. In general, the
curriculum should emphasize deep rather than broad coverage of important areas of knowledge,
authentic and contextualized problems of study, and problem-solving that stresses skills
development as well as knowledge acquisition. Curriculum should also provide for individual
differences, closely coordinate and selectively integrate subject matter, and focus on results or
standards and targets for student learning (Glatthorn and Jailall, 2020). Curriculum structure
should be gender-sensitive and inclusive of children with diverse abilities and backgrounds, and
responsive to emerging issues such as HIV/AIDS and conflict resolution. In all content areas,
curriculum should be based on clearly defined learning outcomes and these outcomes should be
grade-level appropriate and properly sequenced (Kraft, 2015).

An educational leader is aware that the specific content of school curriculum, however, depends
on local and national values. (Fuller, 2009). Local level interests may also have an impact on and
contribute to the quality in educational content. Based on community priorities, for example, a
facilitator may successfully incorporate local knowledge into traditional subject areas (Muskin,

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2019), such as Indigenous Languages and Heritage Studies. When it comes to literacy, some
facilitators promote quality in education by teaching literacy skills as a separate subject, where
the instruction tends to focus on teaching the language as an end in itself. Others, alternatively,
develop literacy skills through other subjects such as social sciences or math.

Another content that contributes towards quality in education is the teaching of life skills. The
term ‘life skills’ can be broadly interpreted, and is often assumed to include such topics as health,
hygiene, etiquette, and vocational skills. Life skills curriculum focuses on attitudes, values and
behavioural change, rather than seeking to provide young people with a body of knowledge
about a set of topics. As with literacy, age-appropriate life skills can be incorporated into other
areas of study. For example, educators in the writer’s district teach life skills as part of courses
on conflict resolution, self-awareness, cooperation and communication. At the school where the
researcher is stationed, the school head promotes the teaching of life skills through encouraging
facilitators and resource persons to teach HIV/AIDS courses. District officers are encouraging
schools to address some aspects of life skills through community-based learning. They urge
teachers to also approach life skills topics in courses such as health education, education for
development, global education and peace education.

Quality Processes
Quality processes in an education system are an indicator of quality in education. UNICEF
(2010) observes that until recently, much discussion on quality in education centred on system
inputs, such as infrastructure and pupil-teacher ratios, and on curricular content. In recent years,
however, more attention has been paid to educational processes, that is, on how teachers and
administrators use inputs to frame meaningful learning experiences for students. Their work
represents a key factor in ensuring quality in school processes.

Darling-Hammond (2007) is of the notion that the highest quality teachers, those most capable of
helping their students learn, have deep mastery of both their subject matter and pedagogy The
preparation that teachers receive before beginning their work in the classroom is important in
promoting quality in education. In recent years, schools, through the district office, would recruit
teachers who had no professional training in the field to fill in vacancy of teachers on leave. This
affected educational quality since student achievement, especially beyond basic skills, depends

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largely on teachers’ command of subject matter and their ability to use that knowledge to help
students learn (Mullens, Murnance and Willett, 2016)

Teachers promote quality in education by making good use of time. Whether a teacher uses
traditional or more current methods of instruction, efficient use of school time has a significant
impact on student learning. However, many teachers face transportation and housing obstacles
that hinder them from getting to school on time and staying until school hours are over. This may
detract from the time and energy they expend in the classroom. Teachers may miss school
altogether.

The school administration, district officers and provincial directors can promote quality in
education by encouraging teachers to further develop themselves professionally. Professional
development can help overcome shortcomings that may have been part of teachers’ pre-service
education and keep teachers abreast of new knowledge and practices in the field. This ongoing
training for teachers can have a direct impact on student achievement and quality in education.
To that effect, UNICEF (2010) suggests that effective professional development may take many
forms; it should not be limited to formal off-site kinds of programmes. School heads and district
officers should hold dialogue and reflections with these teachers; carry out observations and
keeping records as other effective ways for teachers to advance their knowledge.

Conclusion

A lot is involved when it comes to producing quality in education. This paper examined some of
the indicators of quality in education, and how educational leaders can promote them. Quality in
learners is achieved through learner-centred teaching methods, a good learning environment
promotes a sense of belonging and pride, and teacher improvement programmes also help in
improving the quality of learning. Educational leaders, such as school heads and district officers
can promote quality in education if they play their role in promoting learner-centred teaching
methods, promoting non-discriminatory practices and encouraging facilitators to improve their
qualifications. If everyone involved plays their part in promoting quality in education, it is the
learner who stands to benefit the most at the end of the day.

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