Quality Assurance in Continuing Professional Education

Higher education in the 1990s is characterized by a pre-occupation with quality assurance. Philip Tovey provides an examination of what that means for one academic specialism, continuing professional education (CPE). As well as working toward a practical strategy for quality CPE, Tovey considers a number of issues which emerge from discussions of quality and of educating professionals--including the problems associated with the adoption of customer ideology and the relationship between pedagogic aims and prevailing assumptions about quality. Part One deals with context, looking at theoretical developments and practical strategies used for quality assurance in other areas, such as the construction industry, health care and welfare provision. Part Two examines the range of attitudes and existing practice in CPE. Tovey argues that a framework for quality should evolve from an awareness of the complex character of CPE as a distinct subject area--solutions cannot simply be brought in, but must bedeveloped in relation to setting.