A Perspective on Quality in Education: The Quest for Zero Defect

Quality has always been a central concern in education. The existent debate of educational quality has, however, shifted. The current discourse about educational quality is replete with slogans like“standards”, “quality control”, “total quality management”, “consumer rights” and“appraisal”. Furthermore, the present debate about educational quality leaves many of the assumptions that underpin the utilization of the concept, quality, unexamined. In addition, recent discussions about educational quality presume, implicitly or explicitly,certain understandings of the practice of education. More importantly,the current discourse of educational quality is largely technicist. Argues that the current debate concerning educational quality is underpinned by technicist assumptions with respect to the practice of education. Moreover, further argues that the prevalent discourse of educational quality suppresses the argument regarding educational equality.