THE SYNTHESIS OF THE REPORTS OF THE FOURTH ROUND EXTERNAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF CHILDREN DEVELOPMENT CENTERS, THE BASIC, VOCATIONAL, AND HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The three objectives of this research were 1) to synthesize the results of a fourth round External Quality Assessment (EQA) and the assessors’ opinion, 2) to evaluate the quality of the EQA reports, and 3) to propose policy suggestions for educational institutions and their affiliations including the Office of National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) in terms of the improvements of the EQA reports and the assessors’ competencies. For quantitative method, the population was 123 representatives of the educational institutions. For qualitative method, the sample comprised 1) 123 EQA reports, and 2) 22 key informants. Eight research instruments were applied. Quantitative data were collected by using a questionnaire and an assessment form and qualitative data were collected by using a document synthesis, interview, and site visit. For the quantitative data, descriptive statistics consisting of frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used. For the qualitative data, content analysis and domain analysis were used. The research findings were as follows: 1) child development centers have an overall assessment result of a good level, basic education institutions have the overall assessment results of a very good level, both in early childhood education and basic education, and the results of each consideration issue for higher education institutions are at the level of improvement, fair, good and very good, but excluding excellent, 2) the quality of the EQA reports is standardized in all types of educational institutions, and 3) the policy suggestion for all types of education institutions is that the education institutions and their affiliations should take the fourth round of EQA to improve concretely and the policy suggestions for ONESQA are to submit assessment reports, to write suggestions, and to develop assessors.