A teacher delivering quality education using teaching aids in a conducive classroom environment Image credit: ace-english.club

The 6 Core Elements of Quality Education in the 21st Century | Key Indicators of Quality Education in the 21st Century | How to know the basis of Quality Education

There are 6 core elements or key indicators that can facilitate quality education. These elements or indicators will help understand the basis on which quality education strives in any school or institution of learning whether in developing or advanced countries.

1. Effective school management

The first out of the 6 core elements of quality education in the list is effective school management. The school must be well-administered in order to deliver quality education. The administration of the school should well-organised to deliver the expected dividend to students and produce future leaders.

The school management should have good and friendly rapport with all stakeholders in the school system – students, teachers, parents, communities, regulatory bodies and governments if they will run the school successfully.

The school management set clear parameters on how the students should be treated and taught. It should ensure cooperation among teachers, accommodate and appreciate parents and surrounding communities’ positive contribution to the growth and development of the school.

However, each privately-owned or government-owned school is expected to administer its resources and organize the academic and administrative engagements in the best possible way on its own terms to ensure quality education.

2. Funding

Another important element of quality education is funding. Quality education does not just form by itself but it is built and delivered. Funding helps to set the organization and other educational factors aright. It is promotional and provisional in nature. An academic institution can be individually-funded private school or government-funded public school,  Whichever is the case, any school that is not granted adequate funding and has no clear guidelines will not be able to deliver quality education. In summary, funding as an important factor can’t be ruled out from the 6 core elements of quality education.

3. Quality teaching aids and materials

The relevance of teaching aids and materials in enhancing quality of education cannot be downgraded for once. Teaching aids and materials make knowledge acquisition experiential and tend to remove abstraction in subject contents thereby making it look real. In fact, the more interesting revelation about this basis of quality of education is that there is no topic or content that can be delivered in any subject matter in any field of study or discipline that does not require the use of teaching aid. Therefore, every education system is fully armed in that respect to produce quality in education services it offers. In conclusion, quality teaching aids and materials made the list of 6 core elements of quality education because of its importance in the acquisition of knowledge.

4. Quality learning content

Still on the 6 Core Elements of Quality Education, it is very important to note that the 21st century learning content in the curriculum should be encompassing and the teaching aid relevant in the education system in order to build a total child. Content should include basic literacy and numeracy skills. It should also reflect social and life skills like computer, health, environment literacy skills and others like conflict resolution, work, gender equality or other important national and international issues.

5. Quality learning environment

Structural learning environment, as a key indicator of quality education should be sound, healthy, secured, supportive-to-learning, inspiring and motivating as well as adaptable to all categories of learners irrespective of background or race.

6. Quality teaching

The other six core elements of quality education will not likely strive in the absence of a teacher. The teacher is the ultimate mover or driver of the quality education. The teacher is probably the most important factor in the core elements of quality education. The 21st century quality teacher should be able to use to use appropriate teaching methods and instructional styles to impart knowledge pertaining to future sustainability to his or her students.