An-Najah Staff

The purpose of this study is to recognize the degree of knowledge about and application of Total quality management(TQM) in Palestinian education departments from the perspective of workers in these departments. In addition, the study try to know the effects of the study variables (gender, experience, education level, and job title), the study problem was determined by the following question: What is the degree of knowledge about and application of total quality management in Palestinian education departments from the perspective of workers in these departments? To achieve the study objectives, the research conducted the study on a sample of (541) worker at the Palestinian educations Departments; the study utilized a questionnaire that consisted of a (60) items divided onto five domains: (preparing the requirements of TQM in the Palestinian educations departments, the following up of developing the educational process in the Palestinian educations departments, developing work force, decision making process, and finally the domain of local community). Also, the study questionnaire was divided into two parts, in which the first part aimed at determining the degree of knowledge about TQM, and the second to recognize the degree of applying TQM procedures. The study questionnaire was validated and tested by a group of experts who reached (15) expert in the study field, moreover, the study questionnaire used Cronbach alpha formula which reached (0.97) for the degree of knowledge about TQM section; and 0.97 for the degree of applying TQM procedures in the second section. This showed that the study instrument is suitable for achieving the study objectives. The study data was collected and analyzed by SPSS program. On the light of the study findings, the study reached the following results: 1-The degree of knowledge of TQM in the Palestinian education departments which was medium, the total degree for all the study domains reached (60.4%). 2-The degree of applying the TQM procedures in the Palestinian education departments was medium, the total degree for all the study domains reached (65.2%). 3-There were differences that are statistically significant on the level (α=0.05) between the degree of knowledge and degree of applying TQM in the Palestinian education departments from the perspective of workers in these departments; the results lean toward applying TQM. 4-There were no differences that are statistically significant on the level (α=0.05) in the degree of knowledge and degree of applying TQM in the Palestinian education Departments due to the variable of gender and job title on all study domains. 5-There were no differences that are statistically significant on the level (α=0.05) in the degree of knowledge about TQM in the Palestinian education departments due to the variable of work experience. While, There were differences that are statistically significant on the level (α=0.05) in the degree of applying TQM procedures in the Palestinian education departments from the perspective of workers in these departments due to the variable of work experience of less than 6 years and more than 12 years; the results lean toward less than 6 years. 6-There were no differences that are statistically significant on the level (α=0.05) in the degree of knowledge about TQM in the Palestinian education departments due to the variable of education level. 7-There were no differences that are statistically significant on the level (α=0.05) in the degree of applying of TQM in Palestinian education departments from the perspective of workers in these departments due to the variable of education level, while there were differences in the domain of preparing the requirements of applying TQM due to the variable of job title. On the light of these findings, the researcher made the following recommendations: The Palestinian education ministry should adopt a general strategy to apply the TQM as an approach toward reformation and change. Moreover, there should be a considerable amount of work to prepare a cadre of leadership who is able to lead these reforms. The researcher also recommended that there was an obvious necessity to encourage workers in the departments and ministries to conduct similar studies in this field and to encourage the audience to attend such meeting and workshops.