Quality indicators for SNE - Ireland

Monitoring of Pre-school Services

Under the Child Care Act, 1991 the Health Services Executive (HSE) in Ireland is charged with ensuring the health, safety and welfare of pre-school children attending services. Pre-school children in Ireland are defined by law as "children under 6 years of age, who are not attending a national school or equivalent". Pre-school care providers are required to notify the HSE that they are providing services. In addition, they are required to take all reasonable measures to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of pre-school children attending their service. Overall, the Department of Health and Children has responsibility for ensuring compliance and developing policy in this area.

The HSE is required to inspect and regulate pre-school child care services. Specifics about the regulation of pre-school child care services are set out in the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 1996 and (Amendment) 1997. These regulations set down the standards of health, safety and welfare that must be in place before care services can be provided.

For further information on these regulations, please visit the website of the Health Services Executive

Evaluation of education provision at primary and post-primary level

Responsibility for the evaluation of education provision, including provision for students with special educational needs, is assigned to the Inspectorate, a division of the Department of Education and Science. The Inspectorate’s statutory quality assurance obligations in relation to educational provision are set out in section 13 of the Education Act, 1998. In the Act, among the functions of inspectors are inter alia to:

• Evaluate the organisation and operation of schools and centres for education and the quality and effectiveness provided in those schools or centres, including the quality of teaching and effectiveness of individual teachers
• Evaluate the education standards in such schools or centres
• Assess the implementation and effectiveness of programmes of education which have been devised in respect of individual students who have a disability or other special educational needs and
• Conduct assessments of the educational needs of students in recognised schools and advise those students, their parents and the schools as appropriate in relation to the educational development of those students.

Other legislation, such as the Education (Welfare Act) 2000, also has a direct bearing on the work of the Inspectorate.

For further information on the Inspectorate and on the Education (Welfare) Act, please visit the website of the Department of Education and Science