Experiences in External Evaluation Catherine Byrne Education Development Officer County Wicklow VEC Ms. Catherine Byrne, Education Development Officer, Co. Wicklow VEC

Experiences of External Evaluation Reciprocal peer review approach Respect – for the process, practitioners and participants – essential Conducting own self evaluation gave a great insight Opportunity for an exchange of good practice A learning process in its own right Reciprocal peer review approach – established trust and an effective working relationship with our colleagues, Marie and Geraldine from the outset Respect – understanding that this is meaningful for all involved, that it requires significant input from all concerned Insight – personal experience meant we could relate what we were hearing/reading to our own context and make it meaningful Exchange of good practice – offered a tremendous opportunity to share approach and practice Learning process – exemplified adult education in that we, as adult educators, were also learners in this process Ms. Catherine Byrne, Education Development Officer, Co. Wicklow VEC

Ms. Catherine Byrne, Education Development Officer, Co. Wicklow VEC Some challenges Developing an agreed structure and procedure Managing time constraints Remaining focused on verification Developing a template for the draft External Evaluation Report with minimal guidelines Maintaining objectivity Developing structure/procedure – we had to create the structure and procedure ourselves. Reliant on our own expertise. As it happened we did have expertise in evaluation but can that be guaranteed in all VECs? Managing time constraints – it happened that in Co. Wicklow and Co. Dublin VEC that there were personnel employed with a specific remit in the area of QA – we weren’t trying to graft this process onto another post/role. Within that time constraints were difficult to manage – a volume of material is required to be sample for an effective evaluation but this requires a significant amount of time to analyse Challenge to remember that we were verifying an evaluation carried out by colleagues not carrying out a second evaluation. We had to keep reminding ourselves of this. Template – we had to invent one (see attached template) Objectivity – it can be difficult to maintain objectivity within the peer review approach. It links back to the respect that you have for the process and the relationship you have with your colleagues in the other provider. Ms. Catherine Byrne, Education Development Officer, Co. Wicklow VEC

Ms. Catherine Byrne, Education Development Officer, Co. Wicklow VEC Recommendations Use peer review approach ensures good understanding informs self-evaluations carried out in ‘home’ provider Support practitioners and participants to develop the expertise needed through training Provide appropriate resources – finance, time, facilities, services – to support the process Ensure that good practice is shared throughout the sector Ms. Catherine Byrne, Education Development Officer, Co. Wicklow VEC