Education seems to need a word or two, a slogan, each decade to rally around. The 1990's gave us "competitive advantage" – that simply made clear to us that collaboration was a better route to travel. The first decade of this century gave us "steering mechanisms". That clarified the fact that we didn't really have any clear idea of where we wanted to head and which vehicle would do what.
During this decade "accountability" is emerging as the word of the decade. "Transparency" made a brief surge but those who are smart enough soon saw through that! No, it is the Age of Accountability. I would have thought that accountability is easily achieved but apparently it is really quite difficult if not a struggle.
In tertiary education I would have thought that accountability was even more easily achieved. Government-funded institutions have three key objectives: getting students into tertiary programmes, keeping them in tertiary programmes and getting them through tertiary programmes. Research and technology transfer and other tertiary activities are, in this rubric, simply programmes.
Keeping students in has two key elements – the quality of teaching and therefore the quality of learning in the tertiary institution and the quality of student support in a wide variety of areas. So this accountability measure is one which reflects successful retention – students there at the end of a year ready to progress to whatever is next be that the next year and level of a programme or post-graduate study or employment.
Finally, getting them through. Call me old fashioned but I do hold the view that the successful completion of qualifications at all levels is in fact a valuable and reasonable accountability measure. In this regard the post-tertiary sector in whatever English-speaking country you care to name should currently simply hang their head in shame. Completing the job is an absolutely reasonable expectation of anyone who starts it and is paid to do it. No other area other than the gambling industry is licensed to lift cash off people without any guarantee of a return and at least the gambling industry is honest about that.
This all seems easy and the sector should be greatly relieved that what seemed perhaps to be such a tricky issue has been clarified and simplified and can now be implemented. But wait! What will be the metrics that are wrapped around these? No doubt the sector will argue for targets that are soft while the governments will want those which provide some stretch.
The arguments about the lvel and appropriateness of targets could well consume the rest of the decade by which time a new word will come along.