Quality assurance and the role of a national organisation involved in credit rating
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889810220474 |
| Pages | 172-179 |
| Author | Alison Smith,Stephen Tilley |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Introduction
This paper presents a critical analysis of a
national organisation involved in credit rating.
The organisation – The SCOTCAT Health
Studies Group (SHSG) – began with an ethos
of self-help and mutual aid. It now inhabits a
world ambiguously sited between, on the one
hand, professional and fee-for-service impera-
tives and, on the other hand, an emergent
Government-sponsored rhetoric of trans-
parency and cooperation for life-long learn-
ing. The paper stems from our concern that
issues of quality may be compromised by
these imperatives and tensions. We wrote the
paper in the context of the strong push
towards focus on outcomes related to nursing
education; and in light of concern that issues
of quality may be compromised by these
imperatives. We want to re-emphasise process
as a key dimension of quality assurance in
education by exploring the link between
structure and process in one organisation.
We have used the metaphor of SHSG as a
“life form” to help us explore its origins,
structure, and place in a wider context.
“Organisations as organisms” is a common
metaphor (Morgan, 1986), but every use of
metaphor has limits (Lakoff and Johnson,
1980). We will conclude that while this
metaphor conveys something of the vitality
and adaptability of the organisation, it may
beg too many questions about whether the
structure-and-function implications of the
metaphor are appropriate, especially for
understanding SHSG’s current position.
Regarded in this way, the organisation
becomes a subject of active concern for its
development in a changing higher education
environment. While SHSG includes some
members who are not nurses, this paper
examines its role in bridging, and mediating
between the domains of professional nursing
and higher education.
The analysis focuses on four themes,
namely:
(1) evolution;
(2) co-operation;
(3) confidence; and
(4) mutual recognition of quality.
Each theme has a reflexive aspect. We are
concerned with: the evolution of a “life form”
that has an understanding of itself; the
172
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 6 · Number 3 · 1998 · pp. 172–179
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0968-4883
Quality assurance and
the role of a national
organisation involved
in credit rating
Alison Smith and
Stephen Tilley
The authors
Alison Smith Canterbury Christ Church College,
Canterbury, Kent.
Stephen Tilley Department of Nursing Studies, University
of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.
Abstract
This paper presents a critical analysis of a national organi-
sation involved in credit rating, focusing on credit rating as
a quality assurance issue. The organisation - The SCOTCAT
Health Studies Group (SHSG) - began with an ethos of self-
help and mutual aid. It now inhabits a world sited ambigu-
ously between, on the one hand, professional and fee-for-
service imperatives and, on the other hand, an emergent
government-sponsored rhetoric of transparency and
cooperation for life-long learning. The paper stems from
our concern that issues of quality may be compromised by
these imperatives and tensions. We have used the
metaphor of SHSG as a ‘life form’ to facilitate exploration
of its origins, structure, and place in a wider context,
noting limits in the metaphor’s power to illuminate these
matters. The paper addresses issues which SHSG must
face, as an organisation having members from both the
professional (nursing) and the higher educational domains
must face; particularly when the two worlds it bridges are
changing. The analysis focuses on four themes: evolution,
co-operation, confidence, and mutual recognition of
quality. Each theme has a reflexive aspect. Linkages
between the themes are discussed in light of the develop-
ment of SHSG, and some general issues related to changes
in inter-institutional relationships are raised.
The views expressed in the paper are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the SCOTCAT Health Studies Group.
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