EQI researchers address Northern Ireland Education Committee at Stormont

Dr. Paddy Shevlin, Dr. Martin Brown, Prof. Gerry McNamara and Prof Joe O’Hara,  and  had the opportunity to brief a meeting of the Committee for Education at the Northern Ireland Assembly recently on their research into modes of school evaluation and inspection. Accompanied by colleagues from Sofia University and representatives of schools in Bulgaria, the EQI team briefed key decision makers in the Northern Ireland assembly on their work with colleagues in the West Belfast Partnership Board to develop the concept of ‘Polycentric Inspection’. 

Arguing that educational improvement strategies often require cooperation rather than competition between schools EQI researchers suggested that approaches to school inspection need to be developed to take account of these new realities.  Drawing on findings from an Erasmus + project entitled Polycentric Inspection of Networked Schools the EQI team identified the work being undertaken in West Belfast by a variety of agencies and supported by the NI ETI as providing a possible model that might be replicated in other jurisdictions. Responding to the contributions the Chair of the NI Ed Committee, Mr. Barry McElduff commended the work of EQI and DCU and indicated an interest in exploring whether the emerging model of educational evaluation being developed in West Belfast might be applied to other areas in Northern Ireland.

Further information can be found at:

https://twitter.com/WestBelfastPB/status/78803642091100%0448

https://twitter.com/WestBelfastPB/status/788036006620561408

http://www.schoolinspections.eu/