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Page 2QUaLITY aND FReNCH LaNgUage Page 3QUaLITY aND INTeRNaTIONaL PROJeCTSPage 4FROM eXPeRTISe TO OFFeRS OF SeRVICe

Quality assurance:

a commitment of the institutionA topical and cross-cutting issue, quality assurance applies to all fields. A priority of our institution, it lies at the heart of numerous CIEP activities.

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Today, quality assurance is at the heart of the process of change in the field of education at international level. Standards and certifica-tions are multiplying. These days, all pro-

jects incorporate this aspect, whether in the Euro-pean “Lifelong Learning Programme”, or in French, European or multilateral financial deve-lopment projects. The notion of quality assurance responds to multiple concerns: ensuring the qual-ity of results attained, the means used to attain them and the reliability of the tools used for their evaluation. It is also a theme of international ex-change seeking to combine respect for local ap-proaches and situations with reinforcement of ob-jective means of building mutual confidence, in particular those related to the mobility of students and holders of degrees or certificates.This is why the CIEP, an international centre, has made it one of its priorities.

A cross-cutting issue One of the first projects run by the CIEP in this field concerned the TCF (Test de connaissance du francais - “Test of Knowledge of French”). The in-stitution set up a quality management system to

administer the Test which, from January, 2003, was awarded the ISO 9001 certification, thus reinforc-ing its credibility. In 2007, the French authorities granted the CIEP the FLE Quality label for its French as a Foreign Language Centres in France. The State has thus committed itself to ensuring quality with the aim of providing the public with objective information and of aiding the Centres in the process of continuous improvement. The Qualité français langue étrangère (“Quality French as a For-eign Language”) label covers five fields: hosting, premises, management, teachers, and training pro-grammes. Awarded by an Inter-ministerial Com-mission, the label provides French language-teach-ing centres with national and international recognition alike. Besides being a promotional tool, it also guarantees quality performance for the client. Quality assurance is also very much present in the field of international cooperation in educa-tion. As a key public operator, the CIEP is asked for advice on the subject, particularly with regard to assuring quality in Higher Education institutions owing to its solid references and numerous part-ners, including AERES, CTI, foreign evaluation agencies, and ministries.

An Offer of Training and ExpertiseAn experienced player, the CIEP now provides two types of quality assurance training programmes, along with expertise bearing on intra-European and multilateral projects:

✔ A training programme in the context of the “BELC” winter and summer universi-ties, on the quality approach in a French Language Centre: development quality needs analysis, choice of approach, and action plan.

✔ A customised training programme for designers of evaluation and accreditation systems, heads and staff of quality guarantee agencies, evaluators and university personnel.

✔ Expertise in carrying out quality audits for European projects or development projects, or to support specific quality enhancement (planning, coordination and follow-up) for international projects.

Winter University - “BELC”, French-related Professions across the World, “Developing a Quality Approach in Language Centres” module, March, 2011.

FLE label of quality: Competence Specific to the Linguistic Sector

S ince 2004, the State has undertaken to ensure the quality of courses in French

as a Foreign being dispensed in Language Centres across France. In 2007, it entrusted the creation and implementation of this quali- ty plan of action to the CIEP. This approach enables identifica-tion, recognition and promotion of training providers which pro-vide adequate guarantees of quality in terms of language teaching and other services. All Language Centres in France that provide French language courses to foreigners and meet a set of objective criteria may hence-

forth qualify for the Quality of French as a Foreign Language (“FLE”) label. Today, 82 Language Centres, public and private alike, have been certified for a period of 4 years, and certification is under-way for another 115. The quality assurance system set up with professional groups involves 26 auditors who are experts in the field of French as a Foreign Lan-guage, along with 4 CIEP per-sonnel. Three communication tools are devoted to promoting certified centres and the certifi-cation itself: the paper directory, disseminated in 15,000 copies,

the website www.qualitefle.fr, translated into 4 languages and designed for the public at large, and the website www.labelquali tefle.org/, designed for language-teaching professionals.Management of the FLE label has enabled the CIEP to develop specific quality assurance skills applicable to the linguistic sec-tor. The skills acquired have been put to use in numerous expertise projects conducted by the insti-tution, in particular for renova-tion of French-language pro-grammes (teaching at secondary and higher education levels) and bilingual francophone teaching.

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n In order to accompany professio-nal development of teachers of French, the CIEP is working on a system to evaluate their professio-nal skills, the aim of which is to grant an internationally-recognised professional certificate.Currently in the experimental stage, the system comprises two tools: a test situating the candidate on a normative scale, a standard

(which can be adapted to the local context), and a portfolio for indi-vidual follow-up of lifelong pro-fessional training. The evaluation consists of five types of tests: theo-retical knowledge, application of theoretical principles, analysis of professional material and tools, analysis of professional situations (case studies), and strategies for training and self-training.

The portfolio consists of a profes-sional biography (“Europass”), a self-evaluation questionnaire and a dossier.The system, which will be available in 2012, will help teachers manage their in-house training, validate their acquired experience, and find employment. It will also prove helpful to recruiters and in-house training managers.

Professional Skills of Teachers: an assessment system

Quality - a Support for the Teaching of French as a Foreign Language (FLe)

CIEP infos special Quality assurance | september, 2011

n The diversification of language courses on offer, competitive tendering requirements, new online com-parison tools to ensure value for money, and the need to enhance the image of quality in the teaching of French have led the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to pursue a quality-enhancement process based on common cri-teria, tools and procedures.Since November, 2010, experimentation with this pro-cess relating to the training activities of financially-independent institutions and to the activities of the different centres of the Alliance Française has been

implemented by the CIEP and the Alliance Française of Paris by means of a common consortium of opera-

tors involving ten voluntary institutions. Early observations have revealed evidence of a growing culture of quality in the ins-titutions concerned, which have benefited

from an online “toolbox” containing examples of documents and exercises that might serve as refe-rences, as well as from onsite visits by quality experts. Extension of this quality action plan to a larger num-ber of voluntary institutions is planned for 2011 and will be coordinated by the Institut français.

Quality approach: Experimentation within the French Cultural Network Abroad

Development of a Culture of Quality

CIEP’s main partners

European Association for Quality Language Services

CIEP references

ISO 9001 certification of the TCF

Commission for engineering degrees

French Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education

International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education

Association of Language Testers in Europe

“Quality French as a foreign language” label

Primlangues “European languages” label

n The notion of quality assurance is an increasingly central concern of all parties involved in higher edu-cation. It is one of the issues involved in the transfor-mation of the management of national educational systems and development of institutional autonomy. Since 2004, the CIEP has been lead mana- ger of four Tempus guaranteed-quality projects – almost all Tempus projects coor-dinated by France in this field. It is conti-nuing to develop its expertise and to run various Euro-pean cooperation programmes, institutional twinning and Tempus programmes for the European Commis-sion. The AQI-UMED, for example, aims to set up an

in-house assessment system in ten universities in Alge-ria, Morocco and Tunisia, while the QASYR Project aims to develop both in-house and external quality assurance practices in five short cycle higher education institutions in Syria.

Finally, the CEIBAL and PICQA pro-jects are helping to reinforce the capaci-ties of accreditation agencies in Georgia and Armenia, by reviewing quality assu-

rance procedures and criteria. These projects have enabled the CIEP to develop numerous partnerships, not only with evaluation agencies but also with qua-lity units in European universities.

Higher Education: 10 years of references in the field of quality assurance

Quality at the Service of exchanges, Partnerships and International Projects

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n In January 2011, with the help of European financing, the CIEP organised a study visit on the theme of “Quality assurance mechanisms in secondary education”, for per-sonnel involved in the Turkish and European educational systems. This provided participants with an opportunity to compare their sys-tem’s approaches to education.

From the debate it emerged clearly that an institution’s autonomy is central to implementation of the quality assurance approach. It was through redefinition of this supervisory role that the most marked differences were expressed, many countries having opted to do away with traditional inspectors of education and replace them with

independent external evaluators. Recommendations arising from the study visit focus on the neces-sity of local players to appropriate national ambitions and fit them to the particular contexts of their schools, bearing in mind that autonomy implies a heighte-ned degree of responsibility.

Schools: Evaluation to support school management

Tunisia: Support for Higher Education

n As part of of the Solidarity in Development agreement in Tunisia, a professional enhance-ment project at higher education level has been set up for the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MESRS). The project, led by the CIEP for a period of three years (2009-2012), aims to address the matter of improving employment opportunities for holders of higher education teaching degrees by developing a profes-sional degree at level 5 on the national classification scale, licences appliquées co-cons- truites (LACC-Co-constructed Applied Bachelor’s Degrees). It allows for the creation and implementation of a co-cons- truction charter, a rotation char-ter and in-company placements, as well as an in-house evaluation process. Piloting of the system is supported by the training of methodologists to design the LACC programme and of auditors to evaluate its success.

The network and experience required for leadership of projects

Institution’s autonomy is central

The CIEP operates an exchange programme for language assistants. It sends 2,500 French as-sistants abroad and receives 5,700 assistants

from 50 countries in France. To improve the way in which foreign assistants are hosted, a quality process has been progressively set up since 2003. A quality-approach charter has been drawn up, based on a case-by-case review of the programme’s constituent elements (administrative processes, tasks assigned to assistants, both with regard to educational issues and to the international open-ness of the institutions, and contributions of mo-bility in university study paths). In collaboration with the local educational authorities, and by pin-pointing best practice, terms of reference are drawn

up to ensure that an assistant’s profile matches up with individual schools’ needs. Introductory train-ing programmes are now organised by all regional education authorities.With regard to improvement of overall manage-ment, a statistical survey at the start of the academic year and two evaluation documents (a report on the assistant and an assessment of the assistant’s activity) have been introduced.To round all this off, a vademecum (administrative, legal and budgetary procedures for recruitment of assistants) is also available to programme manag-ers. The process has resulted in marked improve-ment in the way in which assistants are received and how their responsibilities are defined.

Exchanges: The quality concept and the language assistants’ programme

Tempus Projects QASYR: Quality assurance in intermediary Institutes in Syria

AQI-UMED: Reinforcement of in-house quality assurance in Mediterranean universities – Algeria – Morocco – Tunisia - (2010 - 2013)www.aqiumed.org/

PICQA: Promotion of internationalisation and comparability of quality assurance in higher education (2010 - 2013)www.picqa.org/

TwinningCEIBAL: Capacity reinforcement for set-up of various aspects of the Bologna Process, 2009-2011

CIEP infos special Quality assurance | september, 2011

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D o c u M e n T a r Y T o o l s

m The CIEP library contains a section specialising in the field of quality assur-ance, part of the content of which comes from the former documentary sections of the Centre national d’évaluation. Other references result from monitoring the activi-ties of the key French, Eu-ropean and International bodies (AERES, FINHEEC, INQAAHE, ENQA, ANQAHE, EUA, etc.) working in the field: reports, case studies and works. Information on new resources may be had by subscribing to the list of recent acquisitions: http://www.ciep.fr/selection

Bibliographies: Quality assurance in higher education

n Two bibliographies, complemented by lists of useful web resources, have been created as part of TEMPUS Projects. The first, “Quality assurance in higher education”, was designed for the QASYR Project. It contains a selection of documentary references concerning different approaches to quality; the vocabulary of quality with definition of concepts; in-house and external quality assurance, accreditation and references on quality in technical and professional education. Evaluation tools are suggested. A final section compiles case studies on aspects of evaluation of higher education. A second bibliography, available at this address, www.ciep.fr/bibliographie/bibliogra-phie-assurance-qualite-dans-l-enseignement- superieur.pdf was put together in 2010 as part of the AQI-UMED project. It is an enriched and updated version of the first bibliography.

From ISO certification to offer of expertiseSince 2003, the TCF (Test de connaissance du Français) has been ISO 9001 certified. This interna-tionally-recognised standard guarantees test design and creation, management, and the commercial roll-out. In addition, the TCF was audited in 2009 by the ALTE, Association of Language Testers in Europe, which draws up lin-guistic and psychometric evaluation standards in Europe. This conclusive audit provides the TCF with both a linguistic and psychometric guarantee, ensuring its recognition by language-evaluating professionals in Europe. It also enables identifica-tion of modelling practices relating to validation of items, psychometric analyses, selection of test

compilers and training of correctors for both writ-ten and oral tests. Pursuing the TCF quality policy of the TCF is a priority for CIEP. The determina-tion to maintain international recognition of the Test at the highest level is ultimately a service ren-

dered to all those who use it. The TCF also enjoys institutional recog-nition as a linguistic test for non-franco-phone foreign students wishing to enter French universities.

In addition, the CIEP has a quality and expertise unit that regularly participates in ALTE work-groups, audits certificates in Europe and contrib-utes to the development of professional quality standards.

n In 2006, a quality manager joined the CIEP with responsibility for three tasks:

✔ Monitoring of the TCF quality management system (ISO 9001);

✔ Quality support (in-house expertise), supporting the FLE

Quality certification system, Training FLE Quality auditors, auditing system for TCF and DILF examination centres, training programmes, and projects.

✔ Responsibility for quality assurance within a number of European

projects managed by the institution:- SAEL, a guide to creation of language teacher support websites for national decision-makers in Europe; - SEMLANG, a European seminar on training language teachers; - REAL, setting up a

European Network of Language Teacher Associations ;- MEN-ECVET, a project for the recognition of acquired mobile learning through implementation of the European Credit for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET).

The CIEP’s quality mission

From expertise to Offer of Services

n For the last two years, the quality and ex per t ise unit has been involved in a European Union-f inanced project for language-teaching at primary level in Slova-kia. As part of the evaluation aspect of the project, it is deve-loping certificates in order to certify the linguistic levels of future primary school teachers in six lan-guages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Rus-sian). This evaluation also covers the learning paths from A1 level to B2 level.The unit has additionally accompa-nied the “Štátny pedagogický

ústav” (National Education Centre) in its quality policy. Following completion of the initial audit, it set about optimising exam design, compilation of items, quality of psychometric analysis, and reliabi-

lity of exams assessing oral interaction. Slova-kian exams correspond to specific evaluation needs and are in line with the professional

practices advocated by Europe’s main certifying bodies.Another project undertaken in Bel-gium has helped the “V laams ministerie van Onderwijs en Vor-ming” (Ministry of Education for

the Flemish Community in Bel-gium) to establish certificates not only for evaluation of the level of teachers of French, but also of administrators in Dutch-speaking schools. Action carried out by the CIEP in cooperation with the “Cer-tificaat Nederlands als Vreemde Taal” (CNVAT – a Belgian institu-tion responsible for creation of Fle-mish examinations) has resulted not only in the development of cer-tificates corresponding to specific evaluation needs and standards of quality recognised by the professio-nal community, but also of French and Flemish certificates of compa-rable content and quality.

Accompanying the development of quality language examinations

A commitment toEuropean linguistic evaluation standards

Quality standardsrecommended by the professional community

CIEP infos special Quality assurance | september, 2011