Benchmarking quality

The university lecturer Phaedrus, a character in Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance(Pirsig, 1974), is asked by a colleague, "I hope you are teaching Quality to your students." (p.183)

You can imagine his reply as easily as your own if asked the same question. But how would you know? Having a benchmark to compare your teaching process and outcomes might be helpful.

The DETYA publication Benchmarking: A manual for Australian universities (McKinnon, Walker & Davis 2000) notes that

No area of university life [learning and teaching] is more difficult to benchmark. It is characteristic of universities that the courses and the approach to teaching them are not standard. Courses, even professional courses leading to registration, are rarely readily or directly comparable. There will always be diversity. Quality and Standards have to be benchmarked in ways other than common nationwide examinations. (p.69)

Two benchmarks of interest from this publication concern "teaching quality" and the "teaching environment". For teaching quality the authors suggest that a "... national protocol of good practice ... be developed and widely used. A staff member would be expected to maintain a portfolio of evidence, regularly updated, about his/her teaching and the degree it meets the standards of the protocol. ....At present no national instruments exist to evaluate the quality of university teaching." (p.71)

The suggested teaching environment benchmark imagines organisational arrangements to ensure the best possible teaching including:

• induction of new teaching staff;
• matching of staff workloads with their experience;
• a system of supervision;
• appraisal of teaching effectiveness;
• mentoring; and
• development opportunities.

Attention to these suggested benchmarks at all levels within the university could reassure Phaedrus' colleague who tells him, "I'm so happy you're teaching Quality this quarter. Hardly anybody is these days." (Pirsig, 1974)

• McKinnon, K. R., Walker, S. H., & Davis, D. (2000). Benchmarking: A manual for Australian universities, [PDF Document]. Higher Education Division, Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Available: http://www.deet.gov.au/archive/highered/otherpub/bench.pdf [2001, 12 November].
• Pirsig, R. (1974). Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance: An inquiry into values. London: Vintage.