Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Provider Self Evaluation of Programmes and Services Walter Balfe Development Officer – FETAC 4 October 2007

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Content: –an overview of FETAC policy –an outline of process stages and requirements –introduction to tools and templates –description of approaches already taken by providers –issues –Q & A

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Qualifications (Education & Training) Act 1999 Programme Focus Services related to programme Internal Component – Management, Staff and Learners External Component – ‘person competent to make national and international comparisons’ Publication of findings FETAC to consider findings / make recommendations

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC FETAC Policy of Provider’s QA Improvement focus Institutional and programmatic Initial goal: enable providers to establish –baseline clarity on goals, methods and quality indicators –system to monitor provision quality –procedure to self evaluate programmes and services European model – ERFQA

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC European Reference Model Purpose & Plan Implement Assessment & Evaluation Feedback & Improvement Methodology = Self Assessment

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Self Evaluation Procedure - Guidelines Providers to clarify: –Responsibility – who? (role) –Frequency of evaluation (how often?) –Range of programmes (& centres) encompassed (which?) –Learner input (how?) –External evaluator profile (who / role?) –Methodology – (sequence)

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Provider Procedures - Issues Provider Composition – –big, small, single / multi centre, public / private etc Number of programmes & centres –how to group, collate etc External Evaluator –Who, where, who pays, how to involve etc. Methodology –Bringing it all together Reporting –For who, what etc

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Tools & Templates Intended to help providers Not mandatory where equivalent / alternative already exists Designed to work as a package

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Self Evaluation Checklist Follows Quality Assurance model To be applied within context of one or more programmes and related services Attempts to translates Quality Assurance guidelines into meaningful questions about programme quality Questions can be edited / customised to make more locally relevant To assist provider evaluate effectiveness of own quality assurance procedures as applied to a programme or programmes Designed for internal use primarily – staff and learners

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Programme Evaluation Report Facilitates ‘publication of findings’ Carries forward ratings of Quality Assurance effectiveness from S.E.C. Focuses in more on programme specific issues – additional questions / prompts on –Programme Statistics – Outcomes / Achievements –Programme Design & Content –Programme Delivery –Assessment –Associated Services and Resourcing

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Programme Evaluation Report cont’d Facilitates involvement of External Evaluator Identifies Strengths and Areas for Improvement Can and should be customised to make more locally relevant For ‘local’ consumption primarily FETAC being ‘copied’ with the findings If not useful for provider and learners then no use to FETAC Could / should be published on Web?

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Programme Improvement Plan To be compiled after completion of Evaluation Report To be accepted and signed by management Clear focus on improvement Will be the main focus of monitoring by FETAC With the Evaluation Report, should be the basis of the next evaluation

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Self Evaluations to date Varied Programme vs Quality Assurance focus Issues –Scale / Structure of provision –Time / resources –Lack of hard data –External evaluator – being asked to ‘do’ evaluation. –‘Who’ is it for

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Contributors to Successful Evaluation Management commitment – time and resources Achievable Goals – ‘learn to walk before ….’ A framework to operate within –Coordination and Responsibility –Clarity and agreed purpose –System –Information Autonomy and self reliance Improvement Focus Confidence and mutual respect Consistency Follow through

Mr. Walter Balfe, Development Officer, FETAC Q & A