Donald Staub: OK, Another Accreditation. What's the point?

“OK, another accreditation.
What’s the point?”
Asst. Prof. Dr. Donald Staub
Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University
Bandirma, Turkey
©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference | Prague | 26-28 April 2018 #eaquals18prague

©Eaquals #eaquals18prague
“OK, accreditation.
What’s the point?”

3
Valero & Van Reenen, 2016 / WHED

N=187

Elites, Semi-Elites, & non-Elites
Non-elites: "most commonly found worldwide"
(Levy, 2012)

7
"highly problematic in academic quality,
seriousness, effort, and transparency"
(Levy, 2008)
Dubious
Demand
Absorbers
Non-elites
Demand
Absorbers

“If you have accreditation, it brings
prestige. It will be a good reason for
students to choose this school.”
“Ultimately, we have to get on this boat. It's
going to be sink or swim in this competitive
environment. It's a selling point.”
“We are in that age. Students need certificates. Schools
do too. Very competitive, and we have to become
better. Whatever we need to do, we need to do it.”

"It was negative. It was all about
documentation. Nothing about teaching. It
was not about quality of teaching. It was
about how things are run.
Because teachers are emotional, they want to
know, ‘How will my teaching…how will
my students benefit from this?’"
Accreditation Process #1 / Spring 2013

Well, that didn't work.
How can we do this better?

“I think what happened was that we went
through [the first process], which was not as
serious as this one, and teachers didn't see any
benefit. They didn't see that the students were
getting any benefit… students were supposed to
get certificates, but students didn't get any
benefit from them. So, teachers thought, ‘OK,
another accreditation. What's the point?’
Accreditation Process #2 / Spring 2016

Symbolic
Structural Human Resource
Political
Bolman & Deal, 2003 (3rd ed.)
Reframing Organizations

By examining an organization through each
of these frames, we gain a clearer sense of
how an organization functions - and where
leverage points and barriers exist.

15
Structural
• Roles & responsibilities
• Units & Posts
• Policies, Manuals, Website, Agendas, & Minutes
• Reporting lines
• Communications system

Organizational Outcomes
• Create QA Unit
• Create CPD Unit
• Create Early Alert Unit
• Curriculum alignment (w/CEFR) & mapping
• Appraisal, Observation, Induction Systems
• Update / create / systematize:
Policies, Manuals, Website, Agendas, Minutes…
Structural

Process Outcomes
• Roles & responsibilities (e.g. Leadership & Working Teams)
• Communications system/transparency
• Documentation archive (G-drive)
• Organizing for visits (advisory & inspection)
Structural

The HR frame sees the organization from the side of
the people – their needs, strengths and weaknesses,
skills and limitations.
Human Resource
• CPD Unit
• Early Alert
• First Year Experience
• Accreditation Team & Task Forces
• Accreditation done with, not to teachers

The political frame views the organization as a
competitive arena marked by limited resources
and struggles for power and advantage.
Within the SFL, the most coveted resource is
time ... Those with more time and flexibility
are seen as having an advantage.
Political

To give time & flexibility:
• Summer work
• Release time
• Small teams
• Limit meetings & presentations
Political

The symbolic frame characterizes ceremonies, rituals,
and theater as the essence of the organization.
Symbolic
Strategically -
• Request assistance (non-positional leaders)
• Request time
• Cross-pollinate
• Public Recognitions
• Active listening

Spring ’16
Start
March ’17
Advisory
May ’17
Inspection
Summer / Fall ’16
Writing
Evidence
Editing
Crisis Management

We were curious about what the staff
thought the second time around.
So, we asked four simple questions:
• What was your role in the accreditation process?
• What do you see as the short-term effects of the
accreditation process?
• What do you see as the long-term effects of the
accreditation process?
• Do you think that pursuing accreditation is a
worthwhile activity?

• Lesson Plans
• CPD
• Structure
• Students
• “Benefits from collaboration”
• “Shared experience”
• “Empty impact. No changes, even though they are needed.”
Short-Term

Lesson Plans
“I have to say that those weeks were very hectic and they
affected the pace of my lessons.”
“Rejuvenate teaching.”
Short-Term: Lesson Plans

“It's always good to be writing lesson plans and
some people are checking it -‐ by some people I
mean CPD because they know what they are doing,”
“While we were making our lesson plans, we
asked for advice from our CPD department and they
really gave valuable suggestions. It was good for me
to see my weaknesses and strengths.”
Short-Term: CPD

I see the whole thing as very useful for us. Not
because I see big, drastic improvements for us. But I
believe that this process has brought awareness to
each of us -‐ teachers, admin. We had a lot of these
things already. But it was not organized. There was a
lot of casuality [casual]. Things were not written
down. This process brought the awareness that this
organization was missing.
Increased structure and planning in instruction…
“in a way that is more organized, and I have to say,
more professional.”
Short-Term: Structure

“We can see our mistakes. After the reports they give us,
we see our advantages and disadvantages. So it's a good
thing that anyone comes and checks us what we are doing
good…what we are doing bad. And these people are
professionals. So this is a good thing.”
Short-Term: External Perspective

“At first, teachers were surprised. ‘Why are we doing
this?’ But I explained to them that we are doing this for
quality. For the students. And they agreed and helped out.”
“It made us put ourselves in the position of students. To
think about how we are doing. Make us think about how we
could be more student-‐oriented.”
“Accreditation brings us continuity, and students now
get more out of it,” and “Even though the lesson plan
process is time consuming, it requires understanding and
thinking about the students. So it is a good thing.”
Short-Term: Students

“I am not yet sure about the
long term impact. I have
been teaching for 20-‐ plus
years, and I really don't see
the impact in such
activities.”
"I think it quite-‐positively
affected the program. There
is always going to be
resistance. But it made us
think. You can always
improve. I've been teaching
for 30 years... everything is
different every day."
Long-Term

©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017 www.eaquals.org 31
“The effect of this process will be seen long--
‐term by teachers. Right now it is seen by
admin, through appraisals, documentation...but
for teachers, they are doing the same things
anyway. When I talk to [my office mates] and ask
them about what has changed, they say that they
are not sure yet.”
Long-Term

"If we get approved by this company, it's going to be better
in the public eye. It's going to be better for the ones who
value these things…I guess it will add more value to our
school. It will be better marketing.”
Long-Term

CPD
“[Accreditation] will be good for standardization
and for teacher development. This was the most
visible part of the accreditation process for me. I
mean, from CPD, I learned a lot...and if the
teachers improve themselves, the institution will
benefit from it.”
Long-Term

"The process brought us structure and organization.
It would be nice to have that continue…to have it
built into our normal of way of life, as opposed to
putting on a show. ‘This is what we can do.’"
"The benefit for the SFL is that it makes us more
responsive. It makes us more responsible to our
students."
Long-Term

"To tell the truth, I am not sure the benefits.
What's the benefit for graduating from an
accredited institution?”
Is it worth it?
“These guys don’t know me. You give me a
suit, I’ll wear it. These guys go, I take it off.”

Is it worth it?
“It's nice to have a foreign eye to look through
your program. When you are doing it yourself, you
can't always see everything,” and “People are coming
and giving feedback. You see yourselves from a
different point of view. Take their observations and
make corrections. It is absolutely necessary.”
“Because it shows you have standards and you
can trust the organization that accredits you. It kind of
shows you where you are, how you're doing.”

Is it worth it?
“Someone told me after the [inspection]
debriefing that we always focus on the
negative here. But after hearing all the
positives from the inspectors, we realized
that we had forgotten how to see the
positive. It's a really nice thing to hear
positive things.”

It depends on the kind of institution they have…and
what they want. And what the co-‐workers want…as
a team. If you can't work as a team, it's really hard. If
they are not all supportive, it is difficult. We are
lucky to have the management team. If they trust
their team...if the management can be trusted...I
would say, go for it.
Is it worth it?

“I think accreditation is a necessity,
because it brings you a system…a quality.
But, they should have a good analysis
beforehand, and a good root [foundation]
because it doesn't work like a miracle.”
Is it worth it?

©Eaquals Eaquals International Conference, Riga, 27 – 29 April 2017 www.eaquals.org 40
Asst. Prof. Dr. Donald Staub
Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University
Bandirma, Turkey
dstaub@bandirma.edu.tr

Donald Staub: OK, Another Accreditation. What's the point?

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