Quality Assurance Among SDA Schools

Quality is one of the many promises given by a school to ascertain customers to buy-in. One of the evidence is that quality is the utmost significant concern of accrediting agencies in the United States as stated by Ryan (2015). In the study of Machumu and Kisanga (2014), it discusses what quality, quality assurance, and systems, procedures and mechanism employed to improve the quality of education offered. It is the ongoing process of building and sustaining relationships by assessing, anticipating and fulfilling stated and implied (Castigador, n.d.). According to Odukoya, et al (2015), quality is a multi-dimensional concept embracing the institutions’ functions and activities such as student admission, promotion, and certification process, staff recruitment and promotion, curriculum development, teaching, learning, research, infrastructural development, equipment, community development, and related issues.

One of the challenges faced by schools on quality assurance is the poor corporate governance and financial constraints as shown by the study of (Garwe, 2014). The study of Pacursa (2017) stated that accreditation is voluntary, only a minimal percentage of schools avail of it. But in the study of Odukoya, et al (2015) stated that information explosion and global competitiveness have placed a compelling demand on educational institutions to enhance the quality of the delivery process and products. Due to the increasing demand for accountability, a quality assurance system has been introduced in public and private universities and schools across the world (Moshin, et.al, 2011). In the result given by the employees of Adventist schools exhibited a high level of quality assurance practices in terms of internal quality assurance principles, institutional standard of excellence, ethics and social responsibility, financial resources, and accreditation system based on teachers from elementary, academy and colleges of South Philippine Union Conference in Mindanao. This support the study of Elona, (2019) stated that the Adventist school makes sure that the workplace is safe for all employees, supports the community and does community service projects. Furthermore, it give a strong support and evidence that the level of corporate social responsibility of the Adventist schools highly exercised in focusing people, in giving values innovation and creativity, in encouraging its teachers to abide by a Code of Conduct, in making sure that the workplace is safe for all employees and in allowing teachers to balance their work schedule to meet educational goals. This implied that Adventist schools are doing their best to excel in this present globalization of learning.

This result is pointing to the idea that quality assurance of Adventist schools can be viewed in terms of perfection, excellence, and value for money, fitness to purpose, or transformation wherein perfection implies faultlessness or zero errors, excellence implies the notion of reputation, and to the traditional academic view which aims to demonstrate high academic standards, value of money refers to accountability, expectation of quality, and constantly improving (Moshin et. al, 2011).