The impact of implementation of a quality system on Australia's vocational education and training (VET) classrooms was examined through case study research with more than 100 quality managers, head teachers, and teachers in 8 technical and further education (TAFE) institutes in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. The literature on quality was also reviewed. Two-thirds of the teachers believed that implementing quality was having a positive impact on their work but had not yet made an impact on the learning process or the classroom because of the lack of focus on the quality systems being implemented in institutes. Quality meant different things to different people. Quality in VET had been implemented primarily as a way to improve business and the running of institutes rather than as a means of improving learning. The study confirmed the need to continue working to bridge the gap between institute, state, and national VET quality measures and programs and quality measures being gathered and implemented directly by teachers. (Eight tables and 58 references are included. The following items are appended: lists of TAFE institutions and staff consulted; the teacher focus group questions; and tables detailing the quality initiatives identified by teachers consulted and quality initiatives improving and impeding teachers' work.) (MN)