Quality and Standards in Human Services in Ireland - the NESC ...

INTRODUCTION 8All State primary and post-primary schools in Ireland must be inspected by theDepartment of Education and Skills. The purpose of inspection is to ensure thathigh standards are maintained and that there is continuing development of theeducational system. The Department has a special division called the Inspectorate,which works to achieve these objectives. The role and responsibilities of theInspectorate are described later in Section 3.1.The Irish education system was traditionally divided into three levels: primary (8years duration), secondary (5-6 years duration) and higher education which offereda wide range of opportunities from post-secondary courses, to vocational andtechnical training, to full degree and the highest post-graduate levels. In recentyears, the education system has been expanded to include pre-school education, 5and adult and further education, as the concept of lifelong learning becomesreflected in the educational opportunities available within the Irish educationsystem.Unlike education systems in other countries, the Irish education system does nothave a shared over-arching vision and articulated aims 6 , and this can be said to limitthe potential effectiveness of strategic planning within the DES. The absence of avision for education in Ireland was highlighted in the government’s Third Report ofthe Organisational Review Programme (Department of Public Expenditure andReform, 2012), which states:In particular there is a need to articulate a vision for the educationsystem which will integrate, prioritise and sequence the issues to betackled in the short-term and those which will be progressed in themedium-to longer-term (ibid.: 17).However, the Irish education system is not without a philosophical rationale andstatements of aims, for example, those contained in Charting our Education Future-White Paper on Education (Department of Education and Science, 1995), which setsout a statement of educational aims as a basis for active reflection by stakeholders,as a guide to policy formation, and as guidelines for inclusion in the daily practicesof teaching and learning in schools and colleges (see Box 1.2).56Responsibility for State provision of early childhood education (up to the age of 4 years) rests with theDepartment of Children and Youth Affairs while State provision for the period 4 to 5 years generally takes placein primary schools and comes under the remit of the Department of Education and Skills.For example, Finland’s vision for education since 1970 has been to provide all citizens with equal opportunitiesto receive a good education of their choice, irrespective of their age, domicile, socio-economic situation,gender or mother tongue.