Developing a European quality assessment tool for schools

Purpose The purpose of the research was to develop a simple self‐evaluation model and tool that would be based on the preferences of improvement areas of all the stakeholder groups and that also would be possible to use in all European countries. Design/methodology/approach The methodology starts with a survey to three school levels (primary, secondary, and vocationa) in seven EU countries, in which the opinions of important factors and their related importance are surveyed of the relevant stakeholder groups (school workers, pupil associations, parents, municipal education authorities, next higher school level, or employers). Total N of responses of stakeholder groups was 126. The relative importances are then built into a DEXi model with weightings generated from the responses, and finally a self‐assessment tool that uses the DEXi structure developed for the use of the schools in their quality improvement. Findings The final tool works and the school headmasters who tested it found it easy enough for use. Research limitations/implications Naturally, the preferences change over time. A new survey of similar type should be conducted maybe every five years to keep the model up to date. There is also an ongoing development work of the self‐assessment tool in a new EXPERO2EU project. Practical implications The model attempts to make self‐evaluation so simple that all schools could find the motivation and time to make it a part of their annual planning. The tool itself is not the aim; the aim is to get schools to systematically discuss the issues that are important for their quality and to start improvement actions. Originality/value Both the stakeholder survey, the model and the tool are new constructs.