Being aware of the importance of having a quality monitoring system of schools, Rīga City Council’s Education, Culture and Sports Department entrusted Dynamic University to devise a system design for a quality monitoring system of schools in the district of Riga City.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The school network of the Rīga City constitutes a substantive part of the overall body of education institutions in Latvia. To ensure a more effective oversight of this school network and a more effective development planning, there is a need for a centralized information system that would ensure effective, data-driven quality management and precise formulation of priorities in the education sector. At the moment, the quality of schools is mostly evaluated by students’ performance in national examinations. However, for there to be a more objective viewpoint on the quality of schools, additional information has to be considered, for example the number of students that are taking exams, expenditure per student, educational institution’s method and quality of cooperation with parents. Being aware of the importance of having a quality monitoring system of schools, Rīga City Council’s Education, Culture and Sports Department entrusted Dynamic University to devise a system design for a quality monitoring system (QMS) of schools in the district of Riga City.

PROJECT SOLUTION AND RESULT

The system design explains how a new information system could be developed that would amalgamate the data that is currently available and provide a new tool for quality assessment of schools. QMS’s system design is the end result of Dynamic University’s review of the current system, study on stakeholders’ requirements and analyses of other countries’ experience with quality monitoring systems. In order to understand the current system of education quality oversight and identify its deficiencies, the Dynamic University team analysed all of the current levels of oversight (school, local government, national and international). In addition, the team also studied and assessed databases and information systems that are currently used by schools. In order to precisely understand the needs of the potential users of QMS, Dynamic

At the end of the research process, the Dynamic University team produced a deliverable that presents in detail the envisioned quality monitoring system. The system design describes the architecture, functionality and user groups (including their respective access restrictions) of QMS. In addition, it explains how the new platform is going to synchronize with the current information systems. An important part of the system design is 58 key performance indicators of the education system, which form the bedrock of the proposed QMS. Furthermore, the system design contains analyses of the planned system, which consists of assessment of benefits and risks, as well as organizational and system impact of the quality monitoring system. Lastly, drawing from the expertise of Dynamic University as a member of EFQM, the team outlined the possible vision and future perspectives of the QMS, including the possibility of linking the monitoring system with quality management systems EFQM and CAF.