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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 1

Management in the Real World

Personal reflections of a

teacher/managerMaria Matheidesz

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 2

INTRODUCTION

I had to formulate two crucial questions:

What can teachers/academic managers

transfer to the real world of management?

Do teachers teach what our students will

need outside the classroom?

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 3

What can teachers/academic

managers transfer to the real

world of management?

Sensitivity to needs of staff and clientsteachers

experience in responding to students needs Observing and monitoring processesexperience

in lesson observation

Planning short and long termlesson planningand course design

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 4

What skills do teachers/academic

managers have to learn? Financial awarenessin business

everything has financial implication

Time pressurebusiness life is much faster

than the working pace in education

Fast reactionsthe market changes rapidly,

quick reactions are needed as opposed toslow decision making in education

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 5

What skills do our students need

most? Basic requirements in a working situation

are:

Independence

Efficiency

Appropriacy

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 6

Independence

When you state at a job interview that you

speak a foreign language, employers will

expect you to operate in that language in thebusiness situations required by your job

E.g. sales assistants are likely to carry out

the following tasks in a foreign language:(1), (2)

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 7

Tasks of a sales assistant

Writing emails, letters, agreements

TelephoningChecking and verifying documents (e.g.

consignment lists, customs clearancedocumentation, invoices etc.)

Negotiating (terms and conditions: discounts,delivery time, special orders, payment termsetc.)

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 8

Tasks of a sales assistant (contd)

Reading product descriptions

Translating product descriptions

Producing brochure descriptions based onforeign texts

Giving presentations about trade results to

stakeholders/suppliersWriting reports/market analyses/proposals

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 9

Efficiency

What does language efficiency mean in a workingsituation?

The job is done wellin timethe firsttime

How are foreign language transactions evaluated?

Success: if business is runningsmoothly

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 10

When is the job done WELL?

If it is done in accordance with the business

interests of the company.

If the required business result is not

achieved the job is not done well.

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 11

When is the job done in time?

Fast action is a major requirement inbusiness

The pace of the business world is muchfaster than that of the classroom

Slow action often has direct or indirect

financial implications Special skills are to be acquired to copewith the constant time pressure

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 12

The job needs to be done well for

the first time A quality assurance concept

Tolerance for mistakes: no room for

mistakes in basic tasks, room for language

mistakes as long as task is performed well

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Quality Management for Schools andTeachers 13

An example

A sales assistant is used to clarifying languagepoints with her boss to make sure that sheunderstands everything correctly.

One day the boss is on holiday.

The sales assistant puts off answering the emailwithout looking at it.

The company will have to pay a substantialstorage charge for a consignment due to thedelayed delivery of one document.

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Quality Management for Schools and

Teachers 14

Appropriacy

Language used in business transactions

have to meet international standards in the

use ofPronunciation/intonation

Specialised vocabulary

Register suitable for the position of participantsin the interaction

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Discussion points

Compare priorities of skills and requirements in

the real world and in the classroom?

For teachers/academic managers For students

Which requirements are not considered in the

classroom?

How could teachers prepare students for the

specific requirements of the business world?

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Teachers 16

What to do?

Raise awareness among teachers/students of

these difference

Design specialised tasks and exercisessimilar to real-life situations (e.g. build in a

time limit)

Evaluate language performance also by taskresult and not only by language accuracy