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The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare how school heads and teachers perceived the impact of implementing ISO 9001 Standards on the dimensions management and planning and support and recognition.

The study included 2,192 subjects (86.2% teachers and 13.8% heads) belonging to 85 schools in four Spanish autonomous communities (Castilla y León, Community of Madrid, Andalusia and Community of Valencia). We used an instrument made up of 25 items evaluating both dimensions (Cronbach's α = 0.961). We conducted descriptive and differential analyses (applying ANOVA and calculating the effect size) overall and for the assessments by heads and teachers.

Results show a higher impact in small private schools with state subsidies, with 9–11 years of ISO implementation and receiving internal aid or none at all. The impact was medium–high on the management and planning system and medium–low on support and recognition, with heads evaluating at a significantly higher level the impact of ISO 9001 standards on improvement of preparation of classroom timetables, meetings, analysis of staff expectations and recognition of staff achievements.

Implementation of quality management systems in education has increased significantly in the last decades, and it is thus necessary to find evidence on how the resulting improvements are generated in schools. This study provides conclusions to the scientific and professional community about how school heads and teachers perceived the impact of implementing ISO 9001 standards on the dimensions management and planning and support and recognition.

In the current education context, quality management has increasingly become a key element and more educational organizations are deciding to implement a Quality Management System. Because there are so few studies on the impact that implementation has on educational institutions, the main objective of this paper is to profile educational centers on the basis of their implementation of ISO 9001 quality standards.

Specifically, this was done by taking a sample of 83 educational centers from four regions of Spain (Comunidad de Madrid, Castilla y León, Andalucía and the Comunidad Valenciana) and analyzing assessments made by teachers and members of the center Management Teams (2,132 subjects in total). The first step was to carry out a number of descriptive and differential studies globally, analyzing 8 broad dimensions: Communication System, Management, Support and Recognition, Learning Process, Quality, Climate, Satisfaction, and External Relations. A cluster analysis was then performed to identify center profiles in terms of the degree of impact from their having implemented ISO 9001 standards.

The results show that the impact of is greater in educational centers in Comunidad Valenciana and Andalucía with 9–11 years of implementation, with internal financial aid or funding, and at charter centers.

The cluster analysis reveals three clearly differentiated profiles (with high, medium, and low degrees of impact) in the different dimensions evaluated in the study.