Quality and quality assurance systems in Adult Learning and Education (ALE) are topic that many educators and educational organizations approach with hesitation. In the common imagery of educators, these topics are often linked to complicated procedures, rigid bureaucracy and endless reports to be filled in, in parallel with little training, time and resources to comply with the complex traditional quality assurance systems.
The Q-ALE approach starts from a completely different perspective.
The international partnership goal here was to design a tool that genuinely serves the ALE community, support direct engagement, and encourages structured quality assurance processes, while fostering a true culture of quality across the sector.
The Q-ALE Model aims to be universal, highly adaptable, and designed to cultivate a culture of quality without unnecessary bureaucracy or paid procedures.
What Q-ALE can offer to adult education organisations?
Instead of rigid guidelines, we offer a complete and engaging solution based on capacity building and self-assessment.
At the heart of the Q-ALE Model, there are a Code of Conduct, outlining core values and actionable statements, and an interactive online self-assessment tool (along with a printable version), which allows to easily analyse the strengths and needs for improvement of an ALE organisation in terms of quality assurance.
The QA statements help define concretely how quality practices should look like in ALE and they serve as a conceptual canvas, directly mirrored in the self-assessment form. The self-assessment approach encourages reflection in a friendly and sometimes even light-hearted way, guiding toward a concrete plan for change.
The Q-ALE Model focus on values, quality assurance principles and a digital self-assessment form to consider progress and build actionable planning.
To support further the implementation of quality assurance, the model comes with a good practice mini-catalogue, a base research report and the results of the pilots in 3 countries.
The good practice catalogue is a collection of ready-to-use QA approaches from across Europe, developed with a learner-centred focus and with the aim to support professional development of educators.
The desk research report (Navigating quality assurance in non-formal adult learning) provides an overview and analysis of the selected quality assurance approaches, in particular related to their relevance for the national contexts of non-formal adult education. This report is the essential foundation for the conceptual work on the Q-ALE Model.
Finally, the pilot report (Consolidated piloting & validation report) includes the key findings from assessing the Q-ALE Model across partner countries (Poland, Finland, Croatia) and within a European workshop, with practical insights, recommendations, and guidance for future adaptation and implementation.
What are the main benefits of Q-ALE model for adult education?
The approach focuses on people and continuous improvement processes, not bureaucracy and compliancy.
The idea is to tailor the internal quality assurance system to the specific needs of the ALE sectors and of each organisation.
The method is concrete, aimed at building a roadmap rather than just defining rules.
Get started with the Q-ALE approach
Q-ALE resources are available under open licenses, in English, and for free. We invite all ALE organisations to get, use, re-use and adapt them and let us know how your journey worked out.
If you are interested in exchanging information and feedback with us and/or on developing new initiatives and pilots related to quality assurance in adult education, please, contact EAEA team at eaea-office(at)eaea.org
Read more of our work on Quality Assurance
EAEA calls for a new approach to quality in adult learning and education – 2022
Text: Viola PinziPhotos: EAEA