Education controlling
The learning evaluation includes measures for planning, coordination and control of educational projects for effectiveness and efficiency criteria. Education controlling is a task of education management .
In business administration , controlling performs planning, coordination and control tasks to manage a company in order to provide the company management with the necessary instruments and information. The education controlling should, within the framework of the coordination and control of education-related processes of an organization, record and present the effectiveness and efficiency, in coordination with the organizational goals. It is seen as an approach that serves to optimize educational work, both from an economic and a pedagogical perspective. The economic cost and income structures are to be recorded with the help of quantitative key figures, while qualitative key figures are developed for the development of individual skills.
term
The term education controlling describes an education-related controlling. This means that those responsible for education-related decisions are provided with relevant information. In the operational context, education controlling is consistently related to the qualification of employees in the sense of a special entrepreneurial task. Since other areas of the pedagogical concept of education are largely excluded, it was suggested to speak of qualification controlling instead of education controlling .
The term is practically used today in various areas. For example, further training measures are offered under the heading of education controlling and specific knowledge in this regard is requested in job advertisements. The term education controlling is now also being recognized in science: It is used regularly in scientific publications and is already shown as a separate keyword in many reference works. Increasing research activities have been demonstrated and it has been shown that education controlling is a relevant current research topic.
Areas of application
Education controlling can in principle be used wherever education-related decisions are made, for example in schools and universities, but also with other education providers such as adult education centers. The term is currently mainly used in the field of in-company training.
With regard to consumer protection, educational offers should be questioned in terms of their quality . This is sometimes done with a satisfaction analysis at the end of a learning unit ( seminar ) and can concentrate on the effects of successful further training measures, but should always pay attention to the quality of the speakers and the framework conditions of the educational process, whereby a meaningful analysis also includes longer-term, process-changing effects of the educational process in the functional field, for example in the workplace.
Problem
The self-imposed review of educational processes through certification usually only covers the framework of educational concepts, i.e. the planning of the educational process, but not the quality of its implementation or its subsequent benefits. This approach is always subject to the accusation that it is external, as it is not derived from the educational process itself. An evaluation by the participants themselves, on the other hand, does not allow any direct conclusions to be drawn about the quality of the educational process. Whether the learner was able to cope with the learning tasks can also only be ascertained to a limited extent by tests in which only individual facts and thought patterns are recorded. One can only do justice to the complexity of an educational process to a limited extent if education is measured in analogy to technical processes. Education cannot be certified to the same extent as the production of a technical device.
The criteria for the quality of a teaching-learning process are created in the consciousness of the participants; changing this consciousness is an objective of the educational process to be assessed, and consequently the quality of the same can only be objectively presented with difficulty. On the other hand, the path of the continuous improvement process or total quality management , in which all those involved in an educational process are included in the assessment and ultimately have to be empowered to further develop their own criteria and teaching behavior through constant pedagogical questioning, is less externally determined than certification .
A distinction is made between the following problems in controlling and educational measures:
- Measurement problem - with which key figure can an educational effect be measured?
- Assessment problem - How does a parameter have to be in order to assess the educational benefit that is not monetarily effective?
- Attribution problem - How do you limit the educational benefit to a special educational measure and thus differentiate it from other changes?
Procedure and methodology
In education controlling, you divide the various tasks by assigning them to the apron, the learning field and the functional field.
- With Vorfeld , the period is named that precedes an educational measure or its planning, and here the educational needs are determined and targets are formulated from this.
- The learning area is the actual educational measure and its planning, management and control in relation to input, process and output, which are to be coordinated with the objectives.
- The functional area is about determining and ensuring the transfer and outcome (benefit) of an educational measure in the practical application of the learning content.
Educational needs and educational goal
An educational need arises from the individual objectives of a person or from the extent to which these correspond to the objectives of an organization. For in-company training and further education measures, for example, needs analyzes are created based on the current and planned tasks, in coordination with the employee profiles and the respective job profiles. A comparison of the actual situation with the current or planned target situation can then result in an educational need, from which an educational goal is formulated.
In order to be able to carry out the most precise and systematic goal controlling possible within the framework of a specific educational measure, goals must be formulated in such a way that they have a timely transfer. Long-term goals must be broken down into sub-goals, and these can then be implemented again promptly. The achievement of goals and the harmonization with the respective target specifications can then be checked against the specific goal, whereby individual target agreement interviews, for example, are available as an instrument in personnel development.
Input
In input controlling, the focus is on the planning, management and control of the effort involved in an educational measure, with a view to target achievement. There are two types of control parameters:
- Economic input
- Pedagogical input
The economic input records quantitative-monetary key data, i.e. leads to hard key figures that can be expressed in terms of the amount of funds used. Both the time required for an educational measure and the direct and indirect costs are recorded.
In the case of educational input , the qualitative-technical characteristics are recorded in the form of soft key figures, based on the objectives of the educational measure.
A larger economic input does not necessarily mean that this is also useful for achieving the goals. Measured against the educational goal , it is important to compare the educational use of the economic effort, i.e. to determine which exact effort actually leads to a set goal.
Educational process
When planning an educational measure, the results of the analysis of the initial situation (actual situation) in interaction with the educational goal (target specification) are important. These culminate in the planning of the educational process itself, which should then cover the identified educational needs. When planning an educational process, it is important to bring the educational needs into a systematic form. Controlling now has the task of integrating suitable control instruments for all components of educational planning . It is about the determination of key data for the investigation of the benefit of an educational measure or individual parts of it in formative form , i.e. accompanying the process, or summative form , i.e. for evaluation. This includes key data on quantitative questions ( hard key figures ), as well as questions to those involved in an educational measure about qualitative-technical issues ( soft key figures ).
output
With output controlling (also success controlling) the achievement of goals is measured, i.e. based on key figures it is determined to what extent the learners have achieved the objectives. This is usually done in target / actual comparisons, between the actual performance of the learner in comparison with the learning objective as a target. Depending on the complexity of the educational performance, a large number of key figures must be created in order to fully and representatively reflect the relevant content of the target situation.
transfer
The aim of transfer controlling is to determine the extent to which what has been learned is applied in the functional field, since educational content can theoretically appear meaningful that does not always turn out to be practicable in the concrete application. The more complex the educational achievement, the more difficult it is to develop suitable key figures to measure the practical educational success. It is often difficult to determine afterwards whether and to what extent what is being measured in terms of impact can actually be traced back to the specific educational measure .
Outcome
The goal of outcome controlling is to measure the indirect impact of an educational measure . This indirect effect can be recorded from different perspectives and aimed at individual, organizational and social benefits . The benefit, i.e. outcome, of an in-company training measure describes, for example, an increase in company vertical and horizontal mobility of the employee that goes beyond the direct application benefit (transfer) . The employee has an increased experience of autonomy and competence in the work environment and thus better career opportunities. The company, on the other hand, benefits, for example, from the more flexible deployment of employees.
Because of the complex objectives, it is methodologically difficult to measure the outcome of an educational measure using suitable key figures. Typically, attempts to determine the outcome are countered by the fact that there are no suitable data, causal relationships cannot be proven, there is a lack of control groups, yield and effort are out of proportion, and so on. Therefore, outcome controlling is primarily a reflection strategy in practice. It is intended to help the actors involved in the educational process to reflect the requirements, goals and consequences of educational activities, taking into account the interactions between technology, organization and qualifications.
Education controlling in different countries
Germany
In Germany, the education ministries of the federal states collect data on the efficiency of their educational initiatives, but do not make them available to educational researchers.
United States
In the school system of the United States , education controlling is much more common than in Germany, for example. For example, the US states regularly conduct state tests on the competence of students at all grades. B. in the areas of math and reading.
Private schools , which have a far greater influence in the USA than in Europe, often voluntarily undergo a comprehensive quality test if this results in recognition by a respected accreditation organization such as For example , hope to receive the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools or the Western Association of Schools and Colleges .
literature
- U.-D. Ehlers, P. Schenkel (Ed.): Educational controlling in e-learning. Springer, Berlin et al. 2005, ISBN 3-540-22367-3 .
- T. Fritz: The monetary evaluation of educational measures as a partial aspect of corporate educational controlling. Kovač, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8300-6185-4 .
- C. Griese, H. Marburger (Ed.): Education Management. Oldenbourg, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-59229-0 .
- V. Schultz: Basic knowledge of accounting. 6., revised. and exp. Edition. Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61208-4 .
- S. Seeber, EM Krekel, J. van Buer (eds.): Education controlling. Lang, Frankfurt 2000, ISBN 3-631-35258-1
Footnotes
- ↑ See Schultz 2011: p. 227.
- ↑ cf. Ehlers & Schenkel 2005: p. 3.
- ↑ Seeber In: Seeber et al. 2000: p. 9f.
- ^ Fritz 2012: pp. 9-13.
- ^ Fritz 2012: p. 33f.
- ^ Fritz 2012: pp. 18-27.
- ↑ Fritz 2012: pp. 12-18.
- ↑ See Vaudt In: Griese & Marburger 2011: p. 150.
- ↑ Seeber et al. 2000: p. 37f.
- ↑ Ebbinghaus In: Seeber et al. 2000: p 121.
- ↑ See Vaudt In: Griese & Marburger 2011: p. 149.
- ↑ Seeber In: Seeber et al. 2000: p. 43.
- ^ Witthaus In: Seeber et al. 2000: p. 156.
- ↑ See Vaudt In: Griese & Marburger 2011: p. 150.
- ↑ Manuel J. Hartung: outcry of the researchers. How the ministries of education hinder science. In: The time. April 28, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2016 .