Background

Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board was formally established in July 2013 upon enactment of the Education and Training Boards Act 2013. Operationalised through the merger of the two existing Vocational Education Committees (VECs) in Counties Cavan and Monaghan, Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board successfully completed the transfer of the training function from Louth and Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) in September 2015.

Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board offers a broad range of education and training services to over 12,000 learners across eleven post-primary schools and fourteen Further Education and Training (FET) centres. Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board also provides a range of youthwork services and is responsible for the delivery of the Music Generation programme locally. The Garage Theatre, which incorporates a 289-seat auditorium, and Tanagh Outdoor Education and Training Centre also come under the remit of Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board. In addition, Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board also provides training at Loughan House Open Prison in association with the Irish Prison Service.

As one of the region’s principal employers, employing over 1,300 full-time and part-time staff, Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board plays a pivotal role in the economic and social life of the Cavan-Monaghan region, as well as the wider Border and North-East regions. Consequently, ongoing trust and confidence in the programmes and supports provided by Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board is critical to its success and the success of the local, regional and national economies.

Led by the Director of FET, Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board FET Services deliver a broad range of full-time and part-time programmes and supports to individuals via a network of centres as outlined above.

1a.  Over-arching Institution Quality Policy – Current Legacy Provision & Quality Assurance Development at Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board

Following the amalgamation of County Cavan VEC, County Monaghan VEC and the former SOLAS Training Services in the Cavan-Monaghan area, Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board is currently a legacy provider for Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), operating under four separate Quality Assurance agreements. In order to achieve its mission, and keeping in line with core principles, Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board is focused on developing, implementing and monitoring an integrated Quality Assurance (QA) system across Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board that will deliver to the needs of learners and employers.

As a result of integration, the following legacy QA agreements are in place with QQI since 2006.

1 FETAC QA Agreement – Cavan Institute

Part one containing Communications, Equality, Staff Recruitment, Admissions, Appeals, Induction, Substance Abuse, Attendance, RPL, Work Experience, Programme Development, Delivery and Review and Assessment Policy and Procedures,  click here.

Part two containing  Examination Guidelines for Tutors, Policy Procedure for the Protection of Learners, Self-Evaluation of Programmes and Services, Special Educational needs Pro-forma, Equality Pro-forma click here.  For more information or any further Cavan Institute QA enquiries, please contact the centre directly.

2 FETAC QA Agreement – Cavan Adult Education Services including Cavan-Based Youthreach.  For Pages 1 – 51 click here.  For Pages 52 – 100 click here and for pages 101 – 135 click here.

 3 FETAC QA Agreement – Monaghan Institute and Monaghan Adult Education & Monaghan-based Youthreach Services (combined)

Loughan House, an open prison located in Blacklion, West Cavan, also falls under agreement 2 above.

Other QA systems/agreements in effect:

4 CMETB Training Services – The Transitional Quality Assurance System transferred from Louth Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) Regional Skills Training Centre, Dundalk to CMETB in September 2015

• Youthreach Quality Framework

• QA Systems of the above with non-QQI Awarding Bodies.(For further information on these, please contact the CMETB Quality Assurance and Enhancement team).

CMETB has re-engaged with Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the independent state agency responsible for promoting quality and accountability in education and training services in Ireland.   For further information on QQI, please refer to www.qqi.ie.  It is a statutory requirement and a quality objective of CMETB to ensure compliance with QQI Core Statutory Quality Assurance Guidelines (April 2016) and Sector Specific Guidelines for ETB’s (May 2017).

1b. Revised Quality Assurance Policies and Procedures under integrated Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board Services

Quality Assurance Development

In engendering the philosophy that ‘quality is the responsibility of all,’  Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board is acutely aware of the importance of creating a culture of quality at all levels of the organisation. This philosophy is to the forefront of how Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board operates on a daily basis as espoused through its mission, vision and core values. This commitment to, and focus on quality, is further instilled in Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board’s dedicated QAES mission statement. This vision is operationalised through the QAES Team’s structure as a dedicated FET-wide support, with its role concentrated on enabling each service to manage its own quality provision, thereby maximising the impact of the subsidiarity principle.

This is being actively achieved through the QAES Team’s focus on supporting the development of an integrated Quality Assurance and Enhancement  system across FET. The methodology being employed is one of collaboration, with ongoing support, participation and co-operation from all centres and services fundamental to its long-term adoption and success.

This approach also feeds into ongoing efforts at embedding a quality culture, with Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board’s FET Strategy, Strategic Performance Agreement (SPA) and Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) acting as key conduits for the achievement of the organisational and Quality Assurance and Enhancement mission statements, vision and core values.

Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board is committed to developing an integrated set of policies and procedures in line with the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board FET Strategy 2021-2024 and the core Quality Assurance principles guiding the approach to FET planning at Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board are as follows:

In line with its mission, Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board is committed to a learner and employer centred approach to education and training development and delivery.

This is informed by evidenced based programme development and delivery.

Programmes offered are employment focused in line with workforce development plans and are actively inclusive.

The response to these requirements are innovative, flexible and timely.

All provision is informed through consultation both internally and externally.

Quality Assurance and Enhancement  processes aim to be transparent and accountable across all  services.

The development of a comprehensive suite of quality assurance policies and procedures which are common to the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board organisation as a fully integrated entity will be a long-term project.  As new common policies and procedures are developed and approved by the appropriate governance structure within Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board, they will be published on this website and will replace the existing localised policies which are currently in operation and particular to each centre.

1c   Delivering Quality – Quality Assurance Roles and Responsibilities at Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board

Underpinning the transition from legacy provision to integrated policies and procedures are dedicated teams of teaching and learning professionals, operating with a clear quality focus.

The Chief Executive of Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board is ultimately responsible for the oversight of Further Education and Training and its quality assurance policies and procedures. The Director of Further Education and Training reports to the Chief Executive of Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board and is responsible for the delivery of high quality and responsive FET provision as well as the governance and management of FET in the Cavan and Monaghan region. As part of this structure, the Director of Organisation Support and Development reports to the Chief Executive of Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board and is responsible for assisting the Chief Executive in the leadership of the organisational administrative function and the governance and management of Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board services. The Chief Executive and these Directors form the Senior Management Team (SMT) of Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board.

Further Education and Training (FET) Management Team

In an overall FET context, the FET Management Team consists of the Director of FET, and two representatives from each of the FE colleges, the Training Services Manager, Adult Education Officer, Youthreach representatives and  Director of Quality Assurance & Enhancement. They meet approx. 6 times per annum to review the implementation of strategy and operational issues including Quality Assurance.

Service-level Roles and Governance Structures in FET at Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board

The roles and teams that are responsible for the governance of quality at service-level varies across the services.  The heads of each service report directly to the FET Director, and are supported at Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board level in their delivery of FET programmes by individuals with dedicated responsibility for quality within their service and the QAES team.

Further Education in the two Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board Further Education Colleges

Centre-level responsibility for quality resides with the Director, supported by the Deputy Director(s). Further Education Colleges deliver QQI awards, as well as awards from other certification bodies. Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board level oversight of QQI delivery is managed through a newly introduced system of review of certification rates as reported by the QAES team to the QA Subgroup. Currently oversight for non-QQI awards resides at centre level.

Training Services

The Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board Training Service is run by the Training Services Manager, supported by an Assistant Manager.  Day-to day responsibility for assessments and monitoring is supported by the Quality Assurance and Enhancement function.  The Training Service deliver courses leading to QQI certification, as well as delivering courses leading to non-QQI certification. All contracted trainers who deliver courses for the Training Service do so currently under the Transitional Quality Assurance System (TQAS), and contracted trainer delivery is monitored on a monthly basis at Training Services meetings.  All results are submitted to QQI through the Training Service, following the process of Internal Verification, External Authentication and Results Approval.

Adult Education

Each of the Adult Education Services (AES) is led by an Adult Education Officer (AEO). The AEO is supported by area co-ordinators. These include Adult Literacy Organisers and Community Education Facilitators who have responsibility for the day-to-day management of the schemes such as part-time Adult Literacy, Back to Education (BTEI) provision and Skills for Work programmes.  Other programmes, e.g.  Peace Projects, Programme for Employment, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) and English for Speaker of Other Languages (ESOL) are managed by programme co-ordinators who have responsibility for the day-to-day running of the courses which are delivered by the Adult Education Service. The AES delivers certified courses (mostly leading to QQI awards), as well as uncertified courses. Non-QQI programmes such as ICDL are delivered by Adult Education. Currently oversight of programme certification resides at service level but is reported through the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board Governance structures.

Youthreach

The FET Director has overall responsibility for the six Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board Youthreach centres. Each Youthreach Centre is managed by a Youthreach Co-ordinator who has the day-to-day management for the programme. Youthreach centres currently only deliver courses leading to QQI certification. Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board level oversight of QQI delivery is reported through the various Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board governance structures. Currently oversight of programme certification resides at centre level but is reported up to six times per year through the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board Governance structures.

General

All FET centre/service managers report directly to the FET Director. They are supported in managing the quality of education and training by the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board QAES.  In most centres, a named person will have responsibility for managing assessments (entering learners into QBS, organising Internal Verification (IV), External Authentication (EA) etc. The title of this person varies. In Cavan Institute for example it is a Deputy Director. In Training Services, it is the QA Co-ordinator.  Oversight of the EA process is retained by the QAES.

All centres delivering QQI assessments operate IV and EA processes, and have Results Approval Panels (RAPs) which review the results of the aforementioned processes. Furthermore, these committees address any quality assurance issues which may have arisen in the course of the delivery and/or assessment process. IV, EA and RAP guidelines currently in use originated from FESS templates but have been adapted for use by Further Education, Adult Education and Youthreach services. The relatively new Training Service at CMETB and their contracted trainers use the documentation developed for the Transition of Quality Assurance System or TQAS.

All EA and RAP reports for QQI certification are reviewed through the CMETB QA subgroup which reports the findings centrally to the FET  Management and Quality Council and use them to inform new or revised processes in programme delivery.

Essentially, Quality Assurance takes place at a number of levels within Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board. A number of key clarifications are detailed as follows:

1 Centre Level Quality Management Approach

Quality Assurance of Teaching and Learning is managed at centre level. This includes communications, teaching, assessment briefs, marking of learner evidence, feedback to learners, portfolio development and submission etc.

Learner recruitment, selection, induction, assessments, QBS entry, Internal Verification, External Authentication, Results Approval Panel, staff development and CPD, self-evaluation takes place at centre level also.

2 Cross Centre Quality Assurance

Programme Proposal and Approval, Appeals, PL&D scheduling, Self-evaluation processes, monitoring and reporting and continuous improvement are becoming increasingly centralised in Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board.