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Enhancement Quality Words
Quality Words

The Quality Enhancement Equation:

Wider Experience + Deeper Understanding = Better Practice

Beyond Assurance and Improvement

The sector is becoming used to a new term - quality enhancement. Added to our processes of assurance and improvement comes enhancement. This invites us to become a little more systematic in how we widen our experience and deepen our understanding of key issues in Scotland's colleges. The end result is, as always, better practice.

Policy Statements

Scottish Funding Council (SFC) - Circulars

Quality Assurance

The term quality assurance is generally used to refer to processes which safeguard the quality (and often also academic standards) of provision. These processes include monitoring, internal and external review and benchmarking against appropriate standards. The focus of quality assurance is to ensure that the quality of students' educational experience and the academic standards of their awards meet and exceed some threshold of acceptability. Provision which is quality assured is deemed to be at least satisfactory in all respects. In practice, many quality assurance systems also include significant emphasis on improvement or enhancement of provision.

Quality Improvement

Quality improvement and quality enhancement are used fairly interchangeably by many authors. They both refer to processes in which the emphasis is not on simply meeting a threshold of acceptability but on exceeding such a threshold. These processes are generally linked to quality assurance systems (which provide much of the raw data for analysis) and also include additional activities aimed at promoting a culture of continuously improving the quality of provision by raising the capacity of the institution and its staff to perform at a high level. Such activities might include support for reflective practice, staff development, identifying and adopting good practice, and innovative approaches to delivery of learning and teaching. Quality improvement focuses on working with quality frameworks, and systems, to support evaluation of provision and determination of action plans for improvement.

Quality Enhancement

The SFC FE Quality Working Group took the view that quality enhancement incorporates quality improvement and has a wider connotation. An enhancement-based approach takes a broader perspective and considers a wider set of issues. Quality enhancement involves working laterally as well, bringing in new ideas, practices, and/or resources with an intention of developing and changing current structures. Some members of the Group also felt that improvement conveyed a sense that there are aspects of provision which are weak and unsatisfactory, whereas enhancement carries no such negative connotation: provision can be further enhanced no matter how good it already is.


The Group identified the key characteristics of an enhancement focus as follows:

  • frame a challenge or research question which looks beyond immediate causes and seeks to identify underlying issues;
  • gather evidence from a range of sources in order to better understand and hence address areas for development; and
  • develop a strategic perspective which embeds practitioner experience in the broader context of the discipline, the college and the sector.

The Group also noted that quality enhancement is the term which has become established for similar activities in the Scottish HE sector, and that the enhancement emphasis in HE quality policy has been widely welcomed. The Group concluded that the term quality enhancement was the most appropriate one to describe the Council's current and intended focus in working with FE stakeholders.

Quality SFC Strategy

Quality Enhancement Strategy

A first annual report arising from the evaluation of the Quality Enhancement Strategy for FE in Scotland was published in August 2006. The approach and work plan is explained.

The themes of the quality process are:

  • awareness
  • culture
  • communication
  • commitment and achievement.

Taking forward Learning to Improve

In February 2007 the Funding Council published the document: "Taking forward Learning to Improve".

Leading Quality Standards

Information regarding some of the leading educational quality standards can be accessed from the following links:

The Scottish Executive under its Open Scotland initiative 'Promoting Excellence in Scotland 2004' - published a guide to quality schemes and the delivery of public services. Section 1 considers Quality Schemes and Tools in Profile.