Previous consultations
These stakeholders include providers, professional recognition bodies, and staff and learner representatives, as well as other public bodies and state agencies.
You can find details of recently concluded consultations below.
Context
The Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 empowers QQI to develop policies and criteria in relation to access, transfer and progression (ATP). QQI’s current ATP Policy is a restatement from 2015 of the ATP policy first established in 2003.
In 2023, a review examining ATP practice in Ireland commissioned by QQI was published. This review identified barriers created by current approaches and practices to ATP and provided a number of recommendations to improve ATP practice in Ireland. In order to act on these recommendations QQI is proposing that the ATP policy be updated.
This Green Paper outlines a proposal for an updated ATP policy. The proposed new ATP policy maintains a continued emphasis on credit systems, fair entry arrangements, information provision, and transfer and progression opportunities. The new policy also expands on key supporting elements of ATP central to creating clear pathways for learners.
Audience
QQI are keen to get diverse and varied perspectives on the proposed new ATP policy as well as to hear examples of barriers to accessing ATP pathways as well as examples of good practice.
Feedback can also be emailed to nfq@qqi.ie with the subject line: Public Consultation QQI Green Paper QQI’s Access Transfer and Progression Policy.
The consultation deadline has been extended to Friday 25 April 2025.
You can read the green paper below.
QQI Green Paper on QQI’s Access, Transfer and Progression Policy
Following the end of the consultation process, QQI will publish the findings, a thematic analysis of the feedback and our response. The insights gathered will inform the development of a White Paper, with the goal of implementing a robust ATP policy that supports diverse learner needs and aligns with Ireland's evolving educational landscape.
Context
The Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) was established in 2003, covering school, tertiary education and professional awards, and has become a key reference for people and stakeholders over the past two decades. Visit National Framework of Qualifications page for more information about the framework. Since the establishment of the NFQ there has been frequent discussion and ongoing tension regarding the placement of separate further and higher education awards at NFQ Level 6, with the Advanced Certificate (AC) and Higher Certificate (HC) causing confusion and unequal progression opportunities. Several reports and reviews conducted in the last decade have pointed to this issue at Level 6. To date, the placement of major awards in the framework has never been reviewed or revised.
QQI has published a green paper relating to intermediate qualifications at NFQ Levels 5 and 6.
The Green Paper proposes changes to intermediate qualifications at NFQ Levels 5 and 6, introducing a single major award at Level 6 (termed the Tertiary Certificate), to replace the Advanced and Higher Certificates, and changes to the related Level 5 Certificate to address issues like credit volume, systems and titling. QQI hopes the changes proposed in the Green Paper will simplify the NFQ, improve access, transfer and progression opportunities for learners, and support a unified tertiary education system.
Audience
The Green Paper is a start of a conversation about the proposed change to the NFQ. QQI are keen to get diverse and varied perspectives to ensure all the relevant issues are addressed and that the proposed solution is fit for purpose.
QQI invite feedback from all types of people and stakeholders on various aspects of the proposal. If you want to give your feedback please fill out this form Intermediate Qualifications at NFQ Levels 5 and 6. Feedback can also be emailed to nfq@qqi.ie with the subject line: Public Consultation QQI Green Paper on Intermediate Qualifications at NFQ Levels 5 & 6.
You can read the green paper below.
QQI Green Paper on Intermediate Qualifications at NFQ Levels 5 & 6
Following the end of the consultation process, QQI will publish the findings, a thematic analysis of the feedback and our response. The next step will be to formalise the proposed approach in a White Paper for a final round of feedback before confirming the new award type descriptor for the single major award at NFQ Level 6 and any associated changes to NFQ Level 5.
This consultation is now closed.
Context
Last year (2023), QQI convened the Community Development Broad Award Standards Development Group that was led by the All-Ireland Endorsement Body for Community Work (AIEB) and was tasked with the review of:
- Award Standards for Community Development (5M3050) at NFQ Level 5
- Awards Standards for Community Development (6M3674) at NFQ Level 6
The revised draft Community Development Broad Award Standards at NFQ Levels 5-6 were the result of a year-long engagement process, based on collaboration between stakeholders including community work organisations, FET providers and HE community work educators, sectoral representatives and other subject experts.
The draft Community Development Broad Award Standards at NFQ Levels 5-6 were designed to provide maximum flexibility to education providers to design and seek validation for community development/work programmes (minor, major and/or special purpose) for their learner cohort.
This consultation sought views on:
- The appropriateness of the Draft Broad Award Standards for Community Development at NFQ Levels 5-6
- The appropriateness of the title for this award standards
The final version of the Broad Award Standards for Community Development at NFQ Levels 5-6 will undergo the QQI’s governance process, and once approved by QQI’s Polices and Standards Committee, the approved Broad Award Standards for Community Development at NFQ Levels 5-6 will be published on QQI website replacing the CAS Awards Standards in this field of learning.
Audience
This consultation was open to everyone with an interest in Community Development/Community Work. We wanted to know what education and training providers, teachers, social partners and learners thought about the appropriateness of this new Broad Award Standards for Community Development at NFQ Levels 5-6.
The consultation is now closed
Context
Youth work is an international informal and non-formal educational and reflective practice, committed to the personal/social development and empowerment of young people. Last year, QQI conveyed the Standards Development Group led by the North-South Education Training Committee for Youth Work (NSETS) which is hosted by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI). The Standards Development Group was tasked with the review of Level 5 Awards Standards for Youth Work (5M4732).
The revised draft Broad Award Standards for Youth Work at NFQ Level 5 were the result of a year-long engagement process, based on collaboration between stakeholders including community work organisations, FET providers and HE community work educators, sectoral representatives and other subject experts.
The draft Broad Award Standards for Youth Work at NFQ Level 5 were designed to provide maximum flexibility to education providers to design and seek validation for community development/work programmes (minor, major and/or special purpose) for their learner cohort.
This consultation sought views on the appropriateness of the Draft Broad Award Standards for Youth work at NFQ Level 5.
The final version of the Broad Award Standards for Youth work at NFQ Level 5 will undergo the QQI’s governance process, and once approved by QQI’s Polices and Standards Committee, the approved Broad Award Standards for Youth Work at NFQ Level 5 will be published on QQI website replacing the CAS Award Standards for Youth Work.
Audience
This consultation was open to everyone with an interest in Youth Work. We wanted to know what education and training providers, teachers, social partners and learners thought about the appropriateness of the new Broad Award Standards for Youth Work at NFQ Level 5.
This consultation is closed
As a statutory awarding body, QQI must create a policy framework for how it governs and oversees the effective development, design, delivery, assessment and certification of awards that it makes.
Under this consultation, QQI consulted on four draft awarding policies:
- Policy and criteria for determining QQI awards standards
- Policy and criteria for provider approval
- Policy and criteria for validating programmes leading to QQI awards
- Policy and criteria for making awards
QQI has operated existing policies governing these functions for several years. We have learned about what has worked well and where policy and practice may be improved. We are now updating these policies to ensure they remain fit for purpose.
Each draft policy follows a common layout, setting out the:
- legal basis,
- policy scope,
- policy purpose
- explanations of key terms and
- policy specific guidance.
These draft awarding policies are interrelated, dependent on each other and ideally should be read together. We describe these connections in a common foreword which also includes a set of underpinning principles that guide the development and implementation of QQI policy. All four policies apply to both QQI further education and training (FET) and higher education (HE) awards.
These draft policies aimed to provide an overarching framework to guide decision-making and to clarify expectations. They did not include detailed procedures and processes. These will be provided separately to support the effective implementation of the policies once revised.
There are obvious connections between QQI awards and assessment practice. The changes in the QQI award policies require a interim revision of the following guidelines which apply only to providers of QQI FET awards:
- Quality assuring assessment guidelines for providers
- Quality assuring assessment guidelines for external authenticators
We did not propose changes to the assessment-related guidelines for HE (i.e. Assessment and Standards and Effective Practice Guidelines for External Examining) as part of this consultation.
This consultation is closed
A legislative amendment introduced through the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Act 2019 created new offences related to the facilitation of cheating, the advertisement of cheating services, and the publication of such advertisements. QQI is identified as prosecutor of these offences.
The white paper
The white paper sets out QQI’s intended approach to implementing the new legislative provision (section 43A), which is informed by four pillars: proportionality, transparency, shared responsibility and provider autonomy. The paper also relies on the powers conferred by other statutory infrastructure within the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012 (as amended) and sets out five central pillars to the proposed policy.
The paper details how the national policy infrastructure will interact with the responsibility of education providers for their own internal quality assurance systems, and the responsibilities of learners and staff to engage with their studies and work within the scope of these systems. It also describes the obligations of other stakeholders such as advertising and publishing platforms under the legislation and details how QQI will engage with these stakeholders to protect the integrity of Irish qualifications. The paper can be found at the link below:
White Paper on Academic Integrity
This consultation is now closed
In Ireland and around the world, people use qualifications for many different social, economic and cultural reasons.
Sometimes we take qualifications for granted and we overlook the human and material aspects that support them to ensure qualifications are relevant and trustworthy.
This Green Paper is a discussion paper. It outlines the Irish qualifications system and includes some broad questions on possible opportunities for improvements. There is also a companion Technical Paper which contains more detail.
QQI hopes to use the Green Paper to begin a discussion about Ireland’s qualifications system. We believe this is a very important time to focus on how the system is performing. We would like to discuss this with all the different types of people who use qualifications. They include learners, employers, parents, practitioners, occupational associations and professions, providers and their staff, regulators, trade unions, the international community and others either directly or through representative bodies.
A Standards Review Group (SRG) was established to review the following award standards;
- Level 6 Special Purpose Award Commercial Scuba Diving 6S20612
- Commercial Scuba Diving Minor Award Level 6 6N20618
- Level 6 Special Purpose Award Surface Supplied Inshore Diving 6S20621
- Surface Supplied Inshore Diving Minor Award Level 6 6N20620.
QQI and the SRG are presented the draft replacement awards for consultation at an online event on Thursday 23rd November 2023 to collate feedback.
Feedback was considered and finalised with a view to making a recommendation for adoption to QQI’s Policy and Standards Committee.
The standards will be available to providers to develop programmes and submit those programmes to QQI for validation in accordance with QQI’s ‘Policies and criteria for the validation of programmes of education and training’.
A Standards Development Group (SDG) was established to develop award standards to meet the requirements set out in The Private Security (Licensing and Standards) Regulations 2023.
The SDG drafted the following awards, which were presented for consultation.
Enforcement Guarding Level 4 Special Purpose Award
Comprising of one component; Enforcement Guarding Skills minor award Level 4 (10 credits)
This consultation closed on Friday 3rd November 2023.
QQI published a series of white papers relating to the development and implementation of the Listed Awarding Bodies (LABs) scheme. More information about Listed Awarding Bodies can be found here.
These white papers include two draft policies and criteria; one for the establishment of Listed Awarding Bodies and one for the inclusion of awards in the NFQ. They also include new draft Statutory Quality Assurance Guidelines for Listed Awarding Bodies. The papers can be found at the links below:
Draft core policies and criteria for the establishment of Listed Awarding Bodies (LABs)
Draft policies and criteria for the inclusion of awards within the Framework
QQI sought feedback from stakeholders on the white papers.
This public consultation closed on Friday, 29 September 2023.
You can read the consultation report below:
QQI has developed a draft of statutory quality assurance guidelines for blended and online learning. These guidelines build upon the current and widely used guidelines for blended learning and will incorporate QA of programmes which are designed for fully online delivery and assessment. In recognition of the fact that digital technology is a standard feature of almost all programmes now, the title of the draft guidelines reflects this.
The National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) in DCU has led the development of the guidelines. The development phase included wide consultation with stakeholders in Ireland and drew on research into national and international best practice.
This consultation closed on 30 June 2023.
QQI’s public consultation on the Draft Broad Award Standards at NFQ Levels 1-4 ran from November 2022 - February 2023. You can read the consultation reports below:
At a glance - QQI's public consultation on a suite of draft Broad Award Standards at NFQ Levels 1-4
Public consultation
QQI has published a series of white papers relating to the development and implementation of an International Education Mark (IEM). These white papers include:
- Code of Practice for Provision of Programmes of English Language Education to International Learners
- Statutory Quality Assurance Guidelines for English Language Education
- Code of Practice for Provision of Programmes of Higher Education to International Learners
- Policy on Authorisation to Use the International Education Mark
This consultation closed on Friday, 16 December 2022.
In December 2019, QQI conducted a consultation on the Review and Development of Level 5 Fgas Handling Awards.
After reviewing the consultation feedback and further consideration by the Fgas Standards Advisory group it is proposed to replace the four component awards of Special Purpose Level 5 Handling FGas Refrigerants (including four components) with four stand-alone Special Purpose awards to reflect the four categories of certification required by current European Union and National legislation.
Providers were asked to note that the following draft awards will be Non-CAS awards:
Level 5 Fgas Handling in Large RACHPT&T Systems Category I
Level 5 Fgas Handling in Small RACHPT&T Systems Category II
Level 5 Fgas Recovery from Small RACHPT&T Systems Category III
Level 5 Fgas Non-Intrusive Leak Detection in RACHPT&T Systems Category IV
Level 5 Handling Fgas Mobile Air Conditioning Systems in Certain Motor Vehicles
Level 5 Handling FGas Fire Extinguishants
Consultation closed on 6 March 2020.
QQI established a Standards Advisory Group to review the QQI Special Purpose FGas Handling awards standards at Level 5. The review process for FGas Handling award standards highlighted that the standards required change to reflect current practice and current European Union and National legislation and regulations.
Special Purpose Level 5 Handling FGas Refrigerants (including four components)
Special Purpose Level 5 Handling Fgas Mobile Aircon Conditioning Systems in Certain Motor Vehicles (including one component)
Special Purpose Level 5 Handling FGas Fire Extinguishants (including one component)
Consultation closed on 31 December 2019.
QQI launched a five-month consultation on new-format draft awards standards for Early Learning and Care (ELC), and as part of this published proposed new awards standards for Early Learning and Care. The new standards (at NFQ Levels 5 and 6) were intended replace the current Early Childhood Care & Education standards published in 2011.
One of the major changes was that the new standards would be based on the NFQ Professional Award-type Descriptors. This will have a significant positive impact for a sector which saw nearly 25,000 major awards (including those at Levels 5 and 6) in the last 7 years. For example, it will help facilitate the development of efficient progression pathways between different tertiary ELC qualifications in the NFQ.
A consultation event on was held 7 May 2019 with full attendance.
Background Introduction
Proposed new awards standards for Early Learning and Care
ELC awards to be deactivated and implications for validation
Guideline for Respondents
This consultation closed on 30 September 2019.
QQI invited feedback from stakeholders on Modification to Sectoral Convention 3 on Repeating for Honours in QQI’s ‘Assessment and Standards’
Assessment and Standards 2013 was originally developed in 2009 by HETAC, one of QQI’s antecedents:
The Sectoral Conventions for Assessment comprise a set of regulations and benchmarks which, in the interest of fairness and consistency, are agreed at the sectoral level by QQI and all associated providers.
The ‘associated providers’ referenced are providers of higher education programmes that QQI had validated and providers to whom QQI had delegated award-making authority. The classifications available for QQI awards are set down in Sectoral Convention 1 of Assessment and Standards Revised 2013. Sectoral Convention 3 sets down some constraints on how those classifications may be determined.
This Consultation is now Closed.
