Quality Assurance Effectiveness: Perceptions of Lecturers on the Quality Assurance Mechanisms Employed in the BECD Programme at Zimbabwe Open University

Abstract

In Open and Distance Education there is great desire to provide quality of the whole educational context and quality of individual educational programmes. In an effort to offer responsive market driven programmes, Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) continuously introduces new educational curricula and the Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Development (BEDC) is one such programme which was introduced in September 2010.While it  is in its initial cycle there seem to be some problems ,such as the untimely provision of resources, which can easily compromise on the quality of the programme and its products. A case study which was qualitative in nature was conducted to determine lecturers’ opinions on the effectiveness of quality assurance mechanisms that are being used to quality assure the BECD programme in terms of its fitness, relevance and efficiency or effectiveness. Open-ended questionnaire and focus group discussions were the instruments by which research data were gathered. Participants were of the mind that some appropriate methods and processes were being used and followed in an effort to quality assure the BECD programme. The accreditation of the BECD programme prior its installation, conducting of researches on the  lecturer and student perceptions  on  all  aspects of the implementation of the BECD programme, assessment of students each semester and continuous auditing of the BECD programme through institutional reports were some of the mechanisms the participants opined as being used  to quality assure the BECD programme. Nonetheless some loopholes in the QA processes were opined by the participants. Among these were untimely provision of curriculum materials, failure to act on research recommendations/findings by the institution, and the tendency to hide weaknesses in institutional reporting. The researchers recommend practical use of research findings and honest reporting about implementation of BECD and timely provision of BECD curriculum materials.

Keywords: BECD programme      quality assurance      mechanism