QIS for Churches

Quality Improvement Steps for churches (QIS for churches) has been developed to help smaller churches or organisations with very few staff who do not yet have the capacity to take part in the original QIS to still improve the quality of their work with children. It is not a substitute for the original QIS, but is run to enable participants to reach a stage where they can enrol onto the original QIS programme.

Methodology

The 6 modules of Quality Improvement Steps for churches are based on the original Quality Improvement System units but adapted to promote the main principles of improving quality without so much emphasis on achieving international standards that at this stage may well be out of reach of these organisations. The units are:

  1. How children grow and develop (Child Wellbeing)
  2. Planning and working effectively (Project Planning and Design)
  3. Good stewardship (Financial Accountability)
  4. Keeping children safe (Child Protection)
  5. Developing leadership (Governance)
  6. Working Together (People Care)

Rather than using international standards we encourage setting targets that are appropriate and achievable at their stage of the journey towards those higher standards. A baseline for targets is developed using a self-assessment survey at the start of each unit and the survey is taken again at the end of the module to assess whether targets have been reached.

QIS for Churches has been designed to be run at minimal cost. As such the network co-ordination team with support from the Viva network consultant deliver most of the training without calling on expert trainers.

Where networks have previously run QIS, we ask QIS graduates to ‘buddy’ with QIS for Churches participants and mentor them through improvements. As well as helping share learning and build capacity, this practice encourages the development of relationships within the network.

Where QIS for Churches is new for networks, the Network Co-ordinator may need to be more actively involved in mentoring with support from a peer-to-peer mentoring system.

Rather than receiving an externally assessed quality mark at the end of the course, a certificate is given to participants who attend all sessions.

Time: Between 6 months to a year, depending on how long networks choose to spend on improving in each module.

We have developed materials and resources to be used, and offer technical input, particularly when this is the first time a network has implemented the programme.

Find out more?

QIS for Churches resources can be made available on request. If you would like any further information, please do contact us on (+44) 1865 811 660 or info@viva.org