Affirmative and Non-affirmative Dimensions in Quality Assurance: Balancing the Accountability–Improvement Dilemma as a Matter of Trust and Learning

Abstract

Today, given the build-up of national quality assurance systems, ‘quality management’ within higher education institutions requires critical attention. This management operates as a balance between accountability, which is outward oriented, and improvement, which covers internal pedagogical and research activities. This accountability–improvement dilemma has been intensively researched over the years, not least by focusing on how the relationship between national quality assurance agencies and individual higher education institutions can be developed with respect to mutual trust. Applying insights from non-affirmative theory, this chapter investigates external judgements of quality management at the institutional level in the Nordic context. The investigation addresses how external evaluation reports may function as a mediating tool for balancing the accountability–improvement dilemma in quality assurance. Using conceptualisations of educational and pedagogical leadership derived from non-affirmative theory, we analyse how expectations of leadership are expressed in external evaluation reports. The framework comprises dimensions of pedagogical leadership that are (1) to organise learning processes in professional learning communities, (2) to negotiate practices of quality work in the academic community, both within and across institutions, and (3) to protect professional, academic and institutional autonomy. We analyse the alignment between this conceptualisation of and the expectations of leadership expressed in external reports and add (4) trust in quality management as a fourth dimension. Balancing the accountability and improvement dilemma is not only a matter of trust between the institution and the national agencies but also within the academic community. Discussing the importance of mutual trust in quality work can add value to our understanding of pedagogical leadership in non-affirmative education theory.