Quality circles and their existence in present-day high schools.

Abstract

Circles exploit teamwork by emphasizing on the techne of each individual member of an organization. In particular, Q-Cs rely on self-actualization on the part of each participant to want to do their best for the group. The literature on Quality Circle in education is scarce, but there have been attempts to define these in terms of administrative and classroom activities. If one takes the notion of the teacher as the center of attention and the focus of activity, Circles help in allowing for students to interact more fully with a specific task. And if notion of teamwork is taken, Quality Circles become a mechanism whereby the teachers can add their expertise and different scanning perspective to help the school improve its performance and its product. In Southern and Central Arizona, school districts are not using Q-Cs in name or in fact. Although there are some trends which can allow these to be formed, once a decision is made to include teachers in making decisions for the more substantive issues, for the most part what exists is the traditional approach to management.