Governance and Management of Quality Assurance

FET Service Reporting and Management Structures

Donegal ETB’s FET service uses an executive management structure. Strategic direction is currently provided primarily by the FET Senior Management Team who in turn report to the Director of FET.

The structure allows for the executive decision-making capacity of the FET Senior Management Team to report into the Chief Executive/Director’s Forum. In turn, the Chief Executive reports to the ETB Board to update on developments within FET, along with other matters.

QA Governance Structure and Terms of Reference

Developments are currently in progress to develop new structures, policies and procedures to manage the governance of quality assurance, in line with the requirements of QQI’s Core and Sectoral QA Guidelines. The current QA governance structure of Donegal ETB’s FET Service is outlined in the diagram here. Membership lists for the QA governance groups, including the QA Sub-Committee, Programme Sub-Committee and Quality Council, along with outline terms of reference for each of the groups, are available here.

Programme Development

Presently, Donegal ETB Centres or FET provision categories wishing to develop a programme/module may make a proposal to develop to the FET Senior Management Team, where consideration is given as to whether the development is in line with identified organisational goals and national strategies. The development, approval and submission of new programmes, courses and qualifications are prepared and submitted through the Programme Sub-Committee, which in turn reviews submissions and recommends these new or changed programmes and courses to the Quality Council for approval.

Donegal ETB is committed to enhancing this programme development model in line with the published QQI programme validation criteria and has established a Programme Development & Approval Policy.

Donegal ETB Staff Recruitment and Professional Development

Donegal ETB is committed to fairness, equality and transparency in all staff recruitment processes. Posts are sanctioned by the Department of Education or SOLAS and filled through a formal recruitment and selection process.

The professional competence of Donegal ETB’s staff is central to the FET Service’s ability to respond to the needs of students and employers. Recognising the strong link between the development of its staff and the quality of its education and training, Donegal ETB makes a range of professional development opportunities available to staff members. These enable them to enhance their skills, update competencies and utilise modern teaching methods, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL). During the COVID-19 pandemic, training in Technology-Enhanced Learning was provided to support staff members engaged in Emergency Remote Teaching.

Information Management

Donegal ETB has data protection policies in place to comply with current legislation. Access to databases is by named and authorised personnel only for the purposes of entering data in local centres and for reporting as appropriate at local centres or centrally within Donegal ETB.