Enabling Inputs
The success of teaching and learning is likely to be strongly influenced by the
resources made available to support the process and the direct ways in which these
resources are managed. It is obvious that schools without teachers, textbooks or learning
materials will not be able to do an effective job. In that sense resources are important for
education quality – although how and to what extent this is so have not yet been fully
determined. Inputs are enabling in that they undersign and are intrinsically interrelated to
teaching and learning processes, which in turn affect the range and the type of inputs used
and how effectively they are employed. The main input variables are material resources
(textbooks, classrooms, libraries, school facilities and other non-human resources) and
(human resources (managers, headteachers, teachers, supervisors, and support staff)
with the management of these resources as an important additional dimension.
5. Indicators of Education Quality
The literature so far suggests that quality is both a quantitative and a qualitative issue. Its
indicators should therefore convey notions of quantity and quality (Dare (2005). Van den
Berghe (1997) defines quality indicators of education as performance indicators that refer
to a quality characteristic or objective, thus alluding to the broad context of performance
evaluation in which the learners operate. It may also be understood in terms of a figure
that describes quality characteristic or the achievement of quality objectives. In matters of
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indicators therefore, concepts such as efficiency, relevance, importance and adequacy
cannot be ignored.
In his presentation at the Edqual National Consultative Workshop, Ankomah (2005)
provides a continuum of three processes necessary for identifying indicators in
educational quality:
INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT/OUTCOMES
• Teacher-pupil
Intervention
• Teacher regulating and
punctuality
• Intensity of school
• Examination Results
• Improved health habit
• Effective participation
In social activities etc.
• Educational Personal
• Instructional Content
and materials
• Educational facilities
• Educational Finance
Fig 1 : Educational Quality Continuum
INPUTS
The nature and quality of these inputs significantly determine the outcome of educational
provision.
• Educational Personnel: These include teachers and the non-teaching staff. But
teachers are the principal factor in educational provision and thus affect quality of
education in a significant way. Attributes of concern include number of teachers
available, pupils-teacher ratios, and the personal characteristics of the individual
teachers. These personal characteristics include academic qualification,
pedagogical training, content knowledge, ability or aptitude, years of
service/experience.
• Instructional Content and Materials
The content of education is conical in determining learning outcomes. The type
relevance and the volume are important. The materials that support teaching and
learning, them type, quality and quantity impact significantly on the quality of
education.
• Educational Facilities
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These are about school space and equipment including classroom and other
buildings, challenging boards, pupil and teacher furniture (tables and chairs),
places of convenience water, etc. The standard of construction, the conditions of
the facilities and the specialized rooms are all important areas to consider.
• Educational Finance
An important input that comes along all the other inputs is finance
An important input that comes along all the alter inputs is finance which are
categorized as capital and recurrent expenditures. Constructions of classroom
buildings constitute are of the major capital expenditure of education. While
salaries, particularly, of teachers represent the most important aspect of recurrent
education expenditure.
PROCESS
The process component of the equality continuum relates to many aspects as teacherpupil interaction in class management and control and daily time-on-task with the class.
It also concerns the regularity and punctuality of the teacher in the school for
instructional activities. It also includes the intensity of operation which has to do with
length of the school day and term, how many days are effectively available for school
work in a term etc.
