Pursuit of quality in vocational secondary schools: deployment of management systems and reconfigurations at work

Abstract

The school benches are crossed by a transposition of new measures of a managerial nature, with a progression of new modes of governance focused on accountability and the evaluation of results (Maroy & Pons, 2019; Taylor, 2007). Concretely, our contribution will highlight how the vocabulary and approach have subtly shifted from "quality control" to an incentive for "quality development" in a logic of collective action (Ozga et al., 2011). Launched in "project mode" and with action principles such as initiative and accountability, quality management systems advocate a logic of enrolment of everyone, at all levels of the organization. In Switzerland, the institutionalization of quality management systems (QMS) is laid down in the regulatory bases (Law on vocational training, 2002) and has been endorsed in secondary vocational schools in Switzerland, with certificates recommended at the cantonal level. In a context that has called for reforms and increasing complexity, it can be assumed that the introduction of quality certifications responds to a challenge of valorization and incorporation of quality and excellence standards. In concrete terms, in the management of institutions, these systems represent the development of a tool-based (managerial) action and a quality monitoring culture, supported by quantified, comparative and cyclical information. In this context, these standardization systems are deployed as "soft constraints" and are based on mobilization principles. They are aligned with the rise of so-called "soft" governance and intended to be suggestive (Duru-Bellat, 2019). Self-assessment and self-regulation (of institutions, individuals; etc.) has become inescapable and is combined with regulatory action through external mechanisms. In this contribution, we will highlight how the deployment of QMS leads to a shift from endogenous professionalism (from within) to exogenous professionalism (from above), with repercussions on the definition of work and on activity (Boussard et al., 2010). As noted by several authors, organizational, or exogenous, professionalism is clearly expanding in educational institutions (Tardif, 1999). It introduces forms of regulation, which no longer rely on the basis of "trust" or discretionary power of professionals (Evetts, 2009) and involves increased standardization of work procedures and practices. The use of new types of external experts (auditors who certify SQM) or the internal emergence of new roles within the intermediate professions, such as "delegate" or "quality manager", is part of the workings of these steering and regulation mechanisms. This leads us to ask several research questions: what are the reconfigurations of activity derived from the implementation of the quality management system? what are the perceived impacts of these management mechanisms (understanding of the meaning and relationship maintained)? how does the deployment of a QMS affect the work and practices of the various groups of school actors?