| Summary: | Demands for quality and evaluation have increased in the Icelandic school system in the past 30 years. Rules and regulations have been passed that require changes and implementation of new practices. Some of those changes are specific to the school system, such as changes in curriculum and demands for internal and external evaluations of schools. Other general regulations apply to public organisations, such as demands for records management, GDPR compliance, equal pay certification and sustainability practices. Total Quality Management (TQM) methods are useful in management. They can be used to facilitate v management practices in companies and organisations. TQM methods can be summarised as the continuous process of planning, executing, evaluating/reviewing and improving. Edwards Deming popularised this process which is commonly referred to as the Quality cycle. It has been argued that TQM methods can be useful in school management. Several Icelandic upper-secondary schools already use TQM methods. This study aims to gain knowledge from school leaders and quality managers who use TQM methods about the implementation process, challenges, useful practices and perceived benefits of using TQM in school management. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were used to gather data for this study. Eight interviews were conducted. School leaders and quality managers from four upper secondary schools participated in the study. Prospective participants were chosen via purposeful criterion sampling. Websites of all upper-secondary schools in Iceland were studied to look for signs that TQM is used in management. Principals of those schools were contacted and invited to participate in the study. Leaders of four schools agreed to participate. Two participants represented each school, one from top management and the person responsible for implementing or controlling the TQM system. Participants in those two roles were chosen as they can provide an in-depth perspective on the use of TQM systems in the schools. Thematic analysis ...
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