The assessment of educational programs from a soft systems approach: a methodological proposal

Abstract

The assessment is a frequently used process to verify the achievements in the educational institution in both, social and productive fields. From the General Systems Theory (TGS, Spanish abbreviation), the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) emerges, proposed by Peter Checkland (1981), because of a paradigm shift in the traditional assessing process. Such methodology puts forward seven flexible stages, the purpose of which is to observe the social problems and to work on them through a holistic thinking that allows integrating all those elements there involved, which data can be quali-quantitative, all this under the precept of a systemic transformation.