Governance and Management of Quality Assurance

Tipperary ETB is governed by a board. The board is made up of democratically appointed members who support the Chief Executive (CE) in the implementation of plans and day to day management. The board has a number of sub committees which include the Further Education and Training (FET) Committee, whose role it is to provide advice and support to the FET Senior Management.

The Chief Executive is responsible to the board for all Tipperary ETB’s activities including quality assurance, which is an executive function of Tipperary ETB. The Director of FET reports directly to the CE of Tipperary ETB and is responsible for the delivery of high quality and responsive FET provision and the governance and management of FET.

The FET Senior Management Team (SMT) consists of the Director of FET, Adult Education Officers and other senior managers who meet regularly to plan and manage all FET provision in Tipperary ETB. For the purposes of FET QA, members of this SMT provide the governance and oversight of the work of the QA Steering Group. The graphic below illustrates Tipperary ETB’s governance structures:

Figure 1: Governance Structures of Tipperary ETB

 

 

Purpose of Tipperary ETB’s QA Governance System 

Tipperary ETB’s QA governance structures oversees all aspects of TETB’s quality assurance provision. This includes QQI and non-QQI awards.

The governance structures reflect both the obligations noted in the Statutory Quality Assurance Guidelines published by QQI, along with TETB’s aspirations for a quality-led system that is transparent, documented and accessible to all stakeholders.

Central to the operation of Tipperary ETB’s QA governance system is the separation of responsibility between groups of personnel who develop material and those that approve them.

Further detail on the expectations and operation of Tipperary ETB’s QA governance system can be found in the document Tipperart ETB’s QA GovernanceTerms of Reference

Structure of TETB’s QA Governance System

    • QA Governance Group – this group has overall responsibility for strategic oversight, planning and coordination of FET provision.
    • Programme Approval Committee (PAC) – this group has decision-making and approval responsibility relating to requests for the development or delivery or awards or programmes. The PAC operates as a function of the QA Governance Group.
    • Quality Assurance Steering Group (QASG) – this group supports the QA Governance Group in an advisory capacity in the development and implementation of quality assurance in FET
    • Quality Assurance Task Groups – the purpose of this group is to progress the development of specific quality projects – eg policies, procedures, research, programme-related matters – that have been identified by the QA Governance Group through self-evaluation, quality improvement planning and/or other priority activities. Terms of Reference, which include the design of a work brief, have been developed to support this group

Figure 2: Tipperary ETB QA Governance Structures

Membership and Operation of Tipperary ETB’s Governance Groups

The composition of Tipperary ETB’s governance groups strives to ensure that the members are appropriately competent to carry out the roles and decision-making duties expected of them. Details on membership, and terms of reference for all QA governance groups in Tipperary ETB, can also be found in TETB’s QA Governance Terms of Reference

Tipperary ETB’s Process of QA Policy and Procedure Development and Review

Tipperary ETB’s QA Governance Group – made up of the FET Senior Management Team – agree and approve the need for a QA policy or procedure to be developed, and, agree the priority, timeline and approach. Stakeholders are consulted for input, where necessary.

All policies and procedures are brought to draft level with the support of the QA office, other relevant departments, QA Steering Group and/or QA Task Groups, before being presented for review to the FET QA Governance Group . Changes from the QA Governance Group are recommended and the policy/procedure is then sent to the QA Steering Group for checks on quality and compliance before being sent to the ETB’s Senior Leadership Team (executives) for final approval.

The relevant document owners are responsible for monitoring, making updates and periodic reviews.

Further detail of Tipperary ETB’s Quality Assurance Policy and Procedure Development Process is available in the link.

 

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