Quality Assurance in Further Education and Training in WWETB

COVID-19 Assessment Contingency Plans

The following plans have been approved by WWETB’s governance structures.

Overarching WWETB Quality Policy

The Vision of WWETB is to be the leader of learning through the delivery of high quality, inclusive and innovative education and training services in our community. As outlined in WWETB’s Statement of Strategy 2018 – 2022, one of WWETB’s four key values is that of Quality, we benchmark ourselves against the best to deliver the highest standards for ourselves and others in the pursuit of maximising the learner’s potential.

Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board (WWETB) is committed to providing a quality assured education and training service to all leaners and stakeholders, developing a culture of quality, and ensuring that anyone participating in a programme of further education and training gains a quality assured experience.

For more information on WWETB’s approach to quality assurance, please follow the links below.

Quality Assurance Roles

WWETB Self-Evaluation Report

WWETB is pleased to present the WWETB Self-Evaluation Report in association with the QQI Inaugural Review of Quality Assurance in Education and Training Boards. The report is the culmination of a comprehensive consultative process involving learners, practitioners and managers, educational partners and employers.

WWETB will welcome a QQI appointed Review Team on the 15th of November to discuss the report findings and proposed actions for quality improvement within WWETB’s further education and training provision.

Legacy Quality Assurance Policies

Following the amalgamation of City of Waterford VEC, County Waterford VEC, Wexford VEC and the former SOLAS Waterford & Wexford Training Services, WWETB is currently operating under seven legacy quality assurance agreements with QQI and is in the process of developing new quality assurance policies and procedures for the amalgamated organisation.

These 7 Legacy Quality Assurance Policies are:

WWETB currently supports 34 QQI registered centres and is a registered City and Guilds Supercentre. A number of our programmes and centres provide certification with a number of other awarding bodies also, including ITEC, CIBTAC, CIDESCO, Pearson Vue, Accounting Technicians Ireland, CompTIA, Microsoft etc. Each of the certifying bodies have rigorous QA Procedures that must be met by the individual centre.

The major challenge for WWETB is to move to one overall comprehensive Quality Assurance system that satisfies the requirements of all certifying bodies.

For QA procedures specific to each WWETB Further Education and Training centre under the legacy agreements, please contact the centre in question directly. Contact details are available at wwetb.ie.

Quality Assurance Development and Revised QA Policies and Procedures forming part of WWETB’s Quality Assurance System

As part of the recent Executive Self-Evaluation Process and Quality Improvement Plan, is was agreed that WWETB would collate and review all existing QA Policies and Procedures with the intention to move from 7 legacy QA agreements to 1 unified Total Quality Assurance Management (TQAM) Framework, with the ethos of agreed centralized policies implemented under appropriate programme/college/centre agreed procedures.

The development of a unified Total Quality Assurance Management (TQAM) Framework for the amalgamated ETB will be a long-term project; as new common policies and procedures are developed and approved by the appropriate governance structure, they will be published on this page, and will supersede the existing individual policies and procedures which are currently available in each centre.

WWETB plans to follow an extensive internal consultation process in establishing and maintaining a unified TQAM Framework as follows:

  1. Development of a policy and procedure paper on a particular issue, area of work, or service through focused consultation.
  2. Issue of Draft Consultation for wider consultation – QA Steering Group, QA Forum, FET Management Team, all centres and staff.
  3. Receive Feedback, Make Amendments and Issue for operational testing. Piloting may occur in one centre, a cluster of centres or all centres.
  4. Review with Management Teams and Centres and other structures where appropriate.
  5. Issue Final Policy and Procedure Paper for implementation.
  6. On-Going Review as part of self-evaluation processes and procedures.

Policy and Procedure Papers which have been developed collaboratively through ETBI enter at Stage 2 above. All QA policies and procedures are adopted in WWETB via the above process.

A Quality Assurance Improvement Plan has been developed for WWETB and the review of Quality Assurance policies and procedures was approved by the QA Steering Committee and Senior Management Team and the WWETB Board. This system of governance on policy and procedure ensures that academic decision-making reflects the interests of learners and also maintains Further Education and Training standards in all WWETB programme, colleges and centres.

For revised QA policies and procedures which are common to all WWETB centres, please click here. These new common policies and procedure will form part of the Total Quality Assurance Management (TQAM) Framework. Please note that this page will be updated regularly as new policies and procedures are developed and approved.