IQAVET is the Irish National Reference Point for European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training.
IQAVET National Reference Point (NRP) for Ireland is hosted within QQI. The NRPs were established as part of the EQAVET Recommendation and have a central role in supporting the VET quality assurance arrangements in their system.
The EQAVET Annual Network Meeting was hosted by the National Commission for Further and Higher Education of Malta, which is the EQAVET national reference point, in June 2017. IQAVET, the Irish National Reference Point was represented by Alan Hogan, Limerick Clare ETB, member of the IQAVET Steering Group and contributor on EQAVET working groups over 2016-17. The EQAVET Annual Network Meeting is the decision making body of the Network and meets once a year. Key areas of discussion included the New Skills Agenda for Europe and making VET more attractive and relevant to the labour market, work based learning and apprenticeship. This underlines the closeness of our IQAVET discussions and concerns to that of colleagues in other Member States.
The report of the meeting can be read here
In 2016, QQI was awarded project funding under Erasmus+ to support the implementation of the tasks assigned to them by the EQAVET Recommendation.
IQAVET promotes international best practice in quality assurance in VET. In 2016, funded by Erasmus+, the IQAVET Network hosted three seminars, attended by QA practitioners working across further education and training provision nationally. Seminar topics were chosen by the IQAVET steering group, supporting systematic continuous improvement and focussed on the use of data in evidencing quality, self-evaluation and governance. Inspiring case studies were shared by practitioners from practice nationally and international speakers contributed their learning and insights with regards to the use of EQAVET indicators, building blocks and tool kits.
IQAVET Dissemination Seminar
The fourth IQAVET Network seminar took place in the Marker Hotel in Dublin on Wednesday 8 March 2017
Click here for a copy of the agenda and click on the titles on the left below to view the resources and presentations from the session.
A report detailing activities of the IQAVET Network during 2016-17, together with case studies and summaries of discussions from seminars hosted has been developed and can be downloaded here.
Third IQAVET Seminar - Governance
The third IQAVET Network seminar took place on the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin on Monday 12 December 2016.
Click here for a copy of the agenda and click on the titles on the left below to view the resources and presentations from the session.
Recommended further reading: click here.
Second IQAVET Seminar - Self-Evaluation
The IQAVET Network seminar took place on the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin on Tuesday 15 November 2016. The participants include representative of 11 ETBs, ETBI, Glasgow Clyde College, Scotland, and Northern Regional College, Northern Ireland, the Further Education Support Service, Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools and guests from the National Reference Point Cyprus. Guest speakers came from Athlone Institute of Technology, Scotland and Northern Ireland, ETBI. This seminar was the second in a series of four on the theme of Quality Assurance in VET (FET).
Click
here for a copy of the agenda and click on the titles on the left below to view the resources and presentations from the session.
First IQAVET Seminar - Quality Assurance in VET
The first IQAVET seminar on quality assurance in vocational education and training took place in the Marker Hotel in Dublin on 21 June. Participants were welcomed by Dr Padraig Walsh, QQI and Andrina Wafer, QQI. The seminar brought VET practitioners into a collaborative space, where they could talk and share perspectives on data, a topic that many might otherwise find daunting.
To help participants see the data landscape a number of papers and case studies were presented. John McGrath of SLMRU showed how data can be used for skills forecasting and employment projections. Fiona Maloney, ETBI, detailed the data that is in PLSS that could be used for self-evaluation. Dr Ray O’Neill, QQI, presented awards data published by QQI. Prof Alan Smeaton, DCU, presented a different perspective of how analysis of a wide range of unusual data is being used to assist the achievements of students in higher education.
Case studies from within three ETBs provided practical expressions of how data can enable evaluation in practice. Louise Clarke (CMETB), Alan Hogan (LCETB) and Treasa Brannick-Ó’Cillin (CDETB) presented interesting and informative studies from their own work within respective ETBs.
The seminar report can be found
here. Click on the title below to access a Pdf of the presentation.
