Abstract:
Quality has been a central issue for researchers in the field of education
for quite some years now. The shift has been observed as: from quality to quality
control to quality assurance and now it is Total Quality Management (TQM). The
growth of the Total Quality Management phenomenon in Teacher Education
Institutions has been radical in the part of twentieth century. Still the application of
Total Quality Management in Education institutions is questionable and the
implementation rate is very negligible in comparison to other sectors like, industry,
service sectors etc., The TQM has gained wide acceptance in the business world as an
institutional transformation philosophy. The Total Quality Management is a system of
management based on the principles that every member of staff must be committed to
maintaining high standards of work in every aspect of a company's operations
(Britannica,2001). The reforms in the teacher education are the need of the hour to
achieve the national goals. This study attempts to find out the perception of teachers on
selected eleven quality indicators (leadership, teacher quality, student quality, material
resources -{Input indicators}, linkage and interface, teaching, co-curricular, office
management, examination - {Process indicators}, relationship and job satisfaction
{Product indicators}) categorized into three dimensions namely input indicators,
process indicators and product indicators. The perception of teachers towards TQM was
studied through data collected from teachers working in various colleges of education
(government and aided) in Tamilnadu. The findings of the study revealed that, as far as
input indicators of TQM are concerned, no difference of perception was identified in
terms of gender, locality and experience. In case of process indicators of TQM did not
vary due to their gender, locality and their teaching experience. Finally for the product
indicators, the perception does not differ with the gender and their teaching experience
but it differs in terms of the locality of the teachers.
