Educational programmes set standards for themselves or have these standards set for them by the
sponsors of the programme. When certification is a component of the programme, this acts as a
benchmark. When there is no certification, a combination of staff qualifications, learner results,
available educational plant and materials, support staff, and programme are considered.
In monitoring (for more detailed evaluation suggestions, see Monitoring and Evaluation) nonformal educational
programmes, two benchmarks that must be considered are process and outputs.
Process
Education programmes require certain processes. These may be the conduct of a calendar of
education radio slots and television advertising, or a set of educational events, with each of these
having its own internal processes.
Education organisers should attend to the processes that are under way and ensure the intended
quality is being maintained, through a set of monitoring activities, staff assessments, and peer
evaluations.
Outputs
Outputs require monitoring only in order to ensure that they are happening. The assumption is
that the objectives have been set correctly and that if certain outputs can be seen and measured, the
programme is attaining its planned quality. This is the 'if it works, don't fix it' approach to quality
management.
Of course, it may be that in addition to the expected outputs, there are some unintended outputs
that may, over time, begin to affect the quality of the programme.
Such outputs can include perceptions of the education organisation, impressions about the manner
in which business should be conducted, and even attitudes toward other learners.
Regular Programme Assessment
Uncovering these outputs and considering process questions can be difficult unless there is a
regular programme assessment in which programme staff meet with team leaders or managers and
go through a checklist of the intended staff behaviour and educational objectives. Process can be
assessed by asking: 'How are we doing it?' and outputs, 'What is happening as a result of the
programme?'
Such checklist-based assessment should be backed up with data from external sources. This data
can be provided by a monitoring and evaluation body, or can be collected by managers
participating in actual events or behaving as clients of their own services.
