Criteria of Total Quality Management of Faculty Teaching Skills: Perceptions of University Students

This study aimed to identify the degree of faculty members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of Total Quality Management (TQM) from the university students' perceptions at Al al-Bayt University. The study focuses on the impact of gender, college and degree of the faculty members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of TQM. The sample of the study consisted of (451) male and female students. A questionnaire of 72 items in four areas (planning, implementation, evaluation, communication) followed a five–point Likert scale was answered. Software package of Statistical Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the collected data. The results revealed that the faculty members' practice of teaching skills in light of the criteria of TQM is at a medium degree. However, the results showed no statistically significant differences in effect of the faculty members of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of TQM in the fields of implementation, evaluation, and communication due to the variable of gender. Recommendations on applying TQM in teaching skills were included. International Research in Education ISSN 2327-5499 2013, Vol. 1, No. 1 http://ire.macrothink.org 102


Introduction
The quality of education is one of the controversial topics and vital issues that need more emphasis from researchers due to the current challenges in education at the university level. The focus of some studies in this area covers studying the concept of total quality management, its objectives, basics, standards, ways of achieving it and the constraints of applying it. Hertzier (1994) presented a comprehensive account of the literature on implementing TQM in higher education. She reported and discussed historical development in TQM, implementation of TQM in educational settings and barriers to implementation. She suggested that the only barriers to TQM were lack of leadership in college and the reluctance of faculty members to treat students "customers".
However, it seems that there is a need to focus on teaching skills such as communication, planning, implementation and evaluation more than providing students with knowledge and information. This is one of the main concerns and fundamental objectives of the teaching staff at the universities and higher institutes that include a set of factors; the scholars, students, university curricula, and university management. These factors overlap together to affect the quality of university teaching, positively or negatively; and this depends on the availability of quality requirements in all of these factors and to the high level of the quality of university teaching.
Moreover, Political, technological, economic and social changes are other factors that have forced the higher educational systems to respond to these challenges so as to meet the needs of university students. University education is one of the most important pillars of human development since it is a primary factor in the preparation of specialized skills in various areas of life.
The criteria of Total Quality Management require developing the competencies of the teaching staff. A great number of universities have established centers for developing the staff's teaching skills and competences. Morsi (2002) indicates that the emergence of the need to prepare a well-qualified academic teaching staff started in the nineteenth century. Alwan (2006) points out that it has become necessary for the universities to work on introducing modern systems and typical standards in each administrative level in universities in order to ensure survival and compete with universities at the local, regional and global levels. The trend towards developing teaching skills for university professors achieved more attention as they are directly responsible for achieving the quality of higher education. It is assumed that university professors should keep up with all the current challenges so as to minimize the gap between them and the prospects of this digital generation of students since the concerns of this generation are completely different from those of their teaching staff. Moreover, Williams (1999) claims that the educational curricula give students no chance to show their initiatives and creation. Alsirr (2004) assures that as far as the quality of university education is guaranteed, as far as ensuring the quality of the teaching staff competencies. Hence, there is an urgent need to apply the total quality management criteria for faculty members through developing their teaching skills. ISSN 2327-5499 2013

Review of Related Literature
There already exists some debate and uncertainty about the competences of faculty members practiced in teaching that should agree with the requirements of total quality management. Alkhthelh study (2000) aimed to identify some of the actual teaching skills exercised by the professor and the ideals that should be exercised from the perspective of students of King Saud University. The results of his study indicated that the professor does not reach the level of performance to the degree of expected competence due to the need for academic methods and skills that lead to the expected improved academic performance. Davis, Sauber, and Edwards (2011) claimed that there is near universal agreement that in order for online programs in higher education to be viewed as legitimate and valuable, high quality needs to be assured. In their study, they presented a comprehensive conceptual framework which identifies the features, benchmarks, and institutional practices, quality of instructors, expectations and suggestions of a quality model for online programs in higher education. They added that appropriate support for faculty and service staff, with respect to training, technical support and professional rewards should be provided as motivation for high service quality. Issues of faculty workload, compensation, course evaluations, academic freedom and ownership of intellectual property need to be addressed early on.
Similarly, Alkyumi (2002) conducted a study to assess the degree of applicability of certain concepts of quality management in colleges of education in the Sultanate of Oman. The sample of the study consisted of 44 administrators and 137 faculty member. The findings revealed that the point of view of both administrators and faculty members in the Sultanate of Oman was identical in the degree of applicability of some of the concepts of total quality management. It was also found out that the concepts applicability was high in all fields of study except the use of scientific method, where it came at a medium degree. The areas of this study focused on the mission of the Foundation, decision-making, administrative decentralization, autonomy, the use of scientific method, team work, ongoing training, and continuous assessment. Alshail and Khataibh (2002) conducted a study in the Sultanate of Oman that aimed to identify the extent to which faculty members practice the basic teaching skills, and the need to develop these skills from the perspective of graduate students of masters, general diploma, diploma in management and supervision. The results showed that the graduate students' estimation for the practice of faculty members of teaching skills was low. It was less than the mark test (80%) in all areas without exception. The arrangement was as follows: communication with the teachers came first, followed by the display of educational material, then the organization of the educational material, planning and finally, the area of evaluation. Al-Hakami (2003) tried to develop a standard for the professional required competences of the university professors from the students' perspectives; and to find out which competences are the most preferable at the University of Umm Al-Qura in Saudi Arabia. The sample consisted of 210 students from the faculties of Education and Sciences, the first and the fourth year. The study used a list of professional competencies containing 6 major competencies and 75 minor ones. The results proved that the professional competencies required for university professors from the students' perspective are mainly the six core competencies: personality, preparation and implementation for lectures, human relations, activities and evaluation, scientific mastery and professional growth, and methods of stimulation and reinforcement. As well, there were differences in the degree of university students' preference for of the professional competencies required for university professors. All tended to indicate the need for a list of requirements for the competences of the university professor. Canaan (2005) in a study aimed at developing the performance of faculty members according to the criteria of total quality, using the analytical descriptive method. A scale of 97 paragraphs has been applied on a sample of 33 faculty members. The results indicated that most of the study subjects did not reach the level of the ratio of performance of the standard set. Besides, the performance of faculty members was at a changing level between the evaluation areas and the standards within the same domain. The results also showed that some of the indicators have been achieved in absolute proportions; such as the selection of evaluation methods and tools, participating in the development of curricula and courses of study and supervision of Masters and PhD theses.
Zniati's study (2005) focused on the basics of evaluating the professor's performance and the student in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Damascus in the light of the standards of quality and accreditation systems. The results indicated that the College of Dentistry is seeking to get the global accreditation; and focused on the fact that the accreditation body is concerned with faculty members, the distribution of their functions and their sabbatical chances to perform their university duties, taking into account their effective use of the means of modern technology in teaching. The results have also indicated that the College of Dentistry is aware of its responsibilities so as to be one of the best among the dental colleges in the world; in addition, they made great strides in the development of their performance in light of the overall quality and accreditation systems. Halabi and Salamah (2005) aimed to trace the development of skills necessary for the faculty members in the light of the criteria of total quality management and the system of academic accreditation. The study was based on the quasi-experimental approach in the application of the proposed program for the development of competencies of faculty members. The sample consisted of 120 faculty member. The findings clarified that the criteria that received the highest means for each area of the questionnaire, namely: the ability of a faculty member to use modern technology in the educational process in addition to teaching and conducting scientific research and community service efficiently. Alsirr (2004) aimed at evaluating the quality of faculty members' teaching skills at Al-Aq'sa University in Gaza, from their points of views. The researcher used the descriptive analytical method. The sample consisted of 92 faculty members. A questionnaire of 72 items was applied. The results showed that the estimated average of the evaluation of the total skills, planning skills, and communication skills have achieved the level of quality, reaching 80% and 82% ; however, the evaluation skills did not reach the level of quality. The results indicated impacts of the qualification variable on professors' teaching and evaluation ISSN 2327-5499 2013 performance skills for the quality of teaching skills, while there is no impact of the variables of experience and faculty.

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In 2010 Al-Subaie aimed to identify the degree of female faculty members' practice of teaching sciences skills at the Faculty of Sciences in the light of the comprehensive quality standards from the Faculty students' perspective in Applied Sciences in the University of Umm Al-Qura, Saudi Arabia. The study used a questionnaire that included four themes dealing with the skills of teaching sciences in the light of the comprehensive quality standards. The items of the questionnaire included 73 skills. Reliability and validity of the study instrument was confirmed, and then it was applied to a sample of 189 students. The results indicated that female faculty members' practice of teaching sciences skills in the light of the comprehensive quality standards was low, from the students' perspective. The results also revealed a difference in the degree of faculty members' teaching of the sciences skills in favor of female members in the Department of Biology.
Na'eem (2002) investigated the Saudi universities students' attitudes in the administrative departments towards the application of the concept of total quality management in general and the factors that could affect these attitudes, in particular. The results of his investigation showed that the concept of total quality management among students is not clear, although their general attitude towards the application of total quality management is highly supported. The findings also revealed that there was no statistical significant relationship between the students' attitudes towards the application of total quality management and the variables of age and experience. The results also showed that there was a statistically significant correlation between the concept of quality management and the variables of years of study, the skill of using the computer and type of the student's specialization.
In an article review, Jayakumaran and Mahnoharan (2011) strongly advocate the significance of application of TQM in education as it is the guidance principles to make reform in educational system. They claimed that total quality is, essentially, a win-win approach which works to everyone's ultimate advantage. In addition, the review calls all institutions of different specializations to take into account that quality is or should be the foremost concern. This review of the previous studies indicates that there is interest in the application of total quality management in various institutions, including educational institutions, especially in the educational sectors. Moreover, there are orientations of a serious application of comprehensive quality standards in the system of university education inputs, processes, and outputs, using the regulatory regimes of total quality management. Most of the above mentioned studies focus on the reality of the application of total quality management in educational institutions in the Arab World. This is a reasonable reason to conduct this present study in Jordanian at Al-al-Bayt University.

Problem of the Study
Various factors have urged researchers to gear attention to the importance of applying reasonable criteria and standards that may control and monitor staff performance in institutions and organizations of higher education due to the enormous challenges, ISSN 2327-5499 2013 innovations and competition; such as, the growing global interest to apply the criteria of total quality management in higher education institutions; the trends of modern concepts of management of the entrance of total quality management that will meet the rapid changes in the areas of knowledge, technology, economy and culture. On the other hand, there are other factors that are concerned with suggesting possible solutions to the problems associated with competition between institutions of higher education and labor market requirements of qualified manpower which has received approval and satisfaction of the society and its various productive and service organizations so as to ensure continued progress in all fields, especially educational ones.

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Moreover, many challenges are facing the systems of university education that inevitably limit their effectiveness and have negative impacts on the standards of quality assurance standards. The most prominent of these challenges are the large growing numbers of students, limited funding, the spread of private education and e-learning, the expansion of globalization which was reflected in the quality of teaching performance, reliance on the conservation and memorization in learning, focus on the quantity of knowledge and lack of interest in quality of teaching, and lack of interest in creative thinking skills and self-learning skills, either.
Since achieving the total quality standards is linked to higher education, these standards should be based on developing the teaching skills of a university professor that are related to the educational inputs, processes, and outputs. The problem of this study could be concluded in the following question: What is the reality of faculty members of practicing the skills teaching in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the perspectives of the students at Al al-Bayt University?

Objectives of the study
This study aims to: -identify the reality of faculty members' practicing of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University.
-investigate the extent to which faculty members' practicing of the teaching skills differs in the light of the criteria of total quality management due to the difference in the fields of this study; and finally it -aims to identify the impact of some variables (gender, college, and rank) on the reality of the faculty members' practicing of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University.

Research Questions
This study attempts to answer the following questions: 1) -What is the reality of faculty members' practicing of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University? ISSN 2327-5499 2013 2) -Does the reality of faculty members' practicing of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University differ due to the variables of gender, faculty members or their degrees?

Significance of the Study
It is expected that this study may deal with the subject of total quality management and its applications in higher education due to the importance of providing the community with the well-qualified persons. It can respond to the contemporary developments in the preparation of university professors, and training them on the skills necessary for teaching. It may contribute in spreading awareness of the culture of total quality of administrative leadership that monitor the university education. Additionally, this study may benefit university education programs designers by providing them with the standards of quality assurance for teaching, and the teaching skills necessary for university professors. It can provide a list of the teaching skills that can be invoked in evaluating the performance of a university professor. It may also benefit the Teaching Staff Development Centers by providing the necessary teaching skills for university professors for the training courses to qualify them according to the requirements of total quality management standards.

Limitations of the study
This study was determined by spatial, temporal, and procedural restrictions: Spatiallimits (The study was limited to Al al-Bayt University). Temporal limits (The study was implemented in the first semester of the academic year 2010/2011); and procedural limits(The study was limited to a sample of students from Al al-Bayt University).

Methodology
The descriptive analytical method was used by applying a questionnaire to measure the reality of faculty members' practicing of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspective at Al al-Bayt University. The population includes all students in Al al-Bayt University during the academic year 2010/2011 of all levels (11897) students. The sample consisted of 451 students was randomly selected. It forms 26% of the total study population. Table 1 shows the distribution of the sample according to the study variables: gender, college, degree. The instrument of the study is a questionnaire that consisted of two main parts: The first asks for personal information about the respondents. The second is a scale that measures the teaching skills in the light of the total quality management criteria. This part includes 72 items distributed into four areas: planning, implementation, evaluation, and communication. (Likert) five-level scale was used to measure the reality of faculty members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management.
To ascertain the validity of the study instrument, it has been refereed by experts from Jordanian universities professors specialized in educational administration, and Measurement and Evaluation. It was modified according to their views and adjustments. To ensure the reliability of the instrument of the study, a test -retest procedure was applied on 30 students from the population of the study but outside the study sample that has been applied. Pearson's Correlation coefficient was calculated so as to ensure the reliability of the instrument which was 0.88%.

Statistical Analysis
After gathering the information, the data was analyzed by using the software package of Statistical Sciences (SPSS). Means, standard deviations, averages and multiple analyses of variance were used. To investigate the reality of members of the faculty practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management, averages for the answers of respondents were estimated as an indicator of the degree of practice. Based on the following criterion in investigation, the estimated averages were divided into degrees of appreciation to three levels (high, medium, low).

Findings
Research Question 1: "What is the reality of faculty members' practice of teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University?", are shown in Table 2 Table 2 shows the reality of the areas of faculty members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspective at Al al-Bayt University. The means of the first field (planning) was the highest (3.36) and the standard deviation was 0.68, which indicates that the degree of their practice was intermediate. The second area is communication with a means of 3.30 and a standard deviation of 0.81. This indicates that the degree of practice is moderate, while evaluation came third with a means of ISSN 2327-5499 2013 3.15 and a standard deviation of 0.68. The degree of practice is intermediate; however, implementation comes in the fourth and final area with a means of 3.13 and a standard deviation of 0.69. This shows that the degree of exercise is medium. The total means and standard deviation were 3.23 and 0.58. The total indicates that the teaching staff practicing the teaching skills in the four areas was moderate.

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These results could be attributed to the recent application of the criteria of total quality management at Al al-Bayt University. Still there is a low level of awareness of its importance. This may be due to lack of training programs, seminars, and lectures that contribute to the awareness of the culture of total quality, lack of material supplies that contribute to the achievement of total quality management standards, and lack of objectives of methods of measurement and evaluation of the performance of faculty members at the university in accordance with the standards of total quality management.
Research question 2:Does the reality of faculty members' practicing of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University differ due to the variable of gender, the variable of faculty or the variable ofdegree?
To answer this questionmeans, standard deviations and multi variance analysis were used to investigate the significance of the differences between the means for each variable as shown in the tables below:  Table 3 shows that there is an apparent difference in the values of means due to the gender variable. To find out if these differences are statistically significant, analysis of multiple variances was performed to find out the impact of gender on the reality of the members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management. Table  4below shows the results of multiple analyses of variance.  Table 4 indicates the existence of statistically significant differences at (α ≤ 0.05) in the reality of the faculty members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University, due to the gender variable in the areas of planning, evaluation and on the tool as a whole. The differences were in favor of males; however, the findings in Table 4 indicate that there are no statistically significant differences at (α ≤ 0.05) in the reality of the faculty members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management due to the gender variable in the areas of implementation, and communication.
To investigate the impact of the variable of faculty, means, standard deviations and multi variance analysis were estimated to find out if there were any significance differences between the means in the four areas of the study. Table 5 shows that there is an apparent difference in the values of means according to the college variable. To find out if this difference is statistically significant, analysis of multiple variances was performed to evaluate the impact of the type of faculty variable. The following table shows the results of the multi-way analysis of variances. Results in Table 6 reveal the existence of statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α ≤ 0.05) in the reality of faculty members' practice of the teaching skills from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University attributed to the faculty variable. The means of the faculties of humanities (3.38) and standard deviation (0.85), the means of the faculties of sciences (3.15) and standard deviation (0.69) as the value of (P) (8.464) and the level of significance (0.004). The differences in means were in favor of the faculties of humanities. This could be attributed to the fact that the faculties of humanities gear their attention towards achieving the total quality standards, in order to adopt the disciplines offered by these faculties, by creating quality requirements of material and human resources. These results are consistent with those of Al- Naeem's (2002), Al-Sirr's (2004) and Al-Subaie's study (2010).
As shown in table 6 there was lack of statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α ≤ 0.05) in the reality of the faculty members' practice of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University attributed to the faculty variable and in the areas of planning, implementation, and evaluation and on the tool as a whole.
The faculty members' performance was also investigated in the light of theirdegrees. Table 7 below shows the means and standard deviations for the performance of members of the study sample according to the degree variable. The means indicate that there are apparent differences in the values of averages due to the members' degree. To find out if these differences are statistically significant due to the impact of the degree variable, multiple variance analysis was performed; and the results are shown in the table below.  Table 8 shows that there are no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (α ≤ 0.05) in the reality of the practice of members of the faculty of the skills teaching in the light of the criteria of total quality management from the students' perspectives at Al al-Bayt University attributed to the degree variable.

Conclusion
Total Quality Management holds great promise for becoming powerful instructional criterion that develops faculty members' performance. Following the standards of TQM proves significance in developing teaching skills of faculty members that can better meet the different needs of students found in most classrooms. One should emphasize again that TQM criteria are considered as a reliable standard for improving the faculty members' performance at the university level. The results showed no statistically significant differences in effect of the faculty members of the teaching skills in the light of the criteria of TQM in the fields of implementation, evaluation, and communication due to the variable of gender.
Recommendations on applying TQM in teaching skills were included.

Recommendations
In light of the results of the study the researchers recommend the following: Firstly, training university faculty members on the concepts and criteria of total quality management through seminars, workshops, publications and guidelines to raise awareness of the importance and benefits of implementing Total Quality Management.
Working to provide human and material resources that support the application of total quality management standards according to the appropriate standards, computers, laboratories, sport fields and library where diverse sources of knowledge are available. Secondly, evaluating the programs offered by the University in accordance with the labor market continuously; and receiving feedback from various community organizations, and assessing the output of the university. Thirdly, gearing attention to the members of the faculty in terms of type and in sufficient numbers in harmony with the standards of total quality management; and following objective criteria in the evaluation of university personnel, especially in standards of recruitment and promotions for members of the faculty. Fourthly, providing the requirements of scientific research; encouraging researchers, and motivating them to conduct field studies on the processes that serve the educational learning process; in addition to comparing studies in higher education institutions that have implemented total quality management standards and other similar institutions that do not apply these standards in order to know the differences in the outputs of the two categories to correct errors that hinder performance; and finally, decentralizing of administrative work ; encouraging collaborative work; and getting rid of the monotony of hierarchy impeding the entrance to the application of Total Quality Management.