Social cohesion as an objective of education: Can we specify a quality model for evaluation of educational sistems?

Abstract

Based on previous studies on the design and development of a systemic evaluation model with three possible levels of analysis (evaluation of systems, institutions and teaching), it was incorporated aspects with reference to the concept of Social Cohesion (CS) to guide a global evaluation model. An evaluation model was defined about what provides the educational process for promote CS as: Social welfare (for all), sustainability throughout life, equity and integration of diversity and social participation. For this, it has been obtained the evidence of validation of the model through expert judgment (n = 306) at international level (European and Latin American countries); gathering opinions through a survey. The components of the model have been evaluated based on: If they would be appropriate constructs to inform about the main definition, and to whom we should request information to evaluate each dimension. Then it was analyzed the judgemental agreement. The best informants have been pointed out, which is mostly the teaching staff. As future lines of work, a validation of the Model for the evaluation of university degrees is proposed according to the theoretical guidelines of the CS model -UNIVECS- and a map of indicators. The possible impact of this work lies in the use of the UNIVECS model for the improvement of the environmental sustainability and social welfare.