2.2 Staffing and organisation of the Inspectorate

2.2 Staffing and organisation of the Inspectorate

The Inspectorate is divided into nine business units, and is led by the Chief Inspector and a senior management team. Five regionally-based units, each led by an assistant chief inspector, are responsible for planning and undertaking the core programme of inspections and advisory visits to primary and post-primary schools. The majority of inspectors are assigned on either a full-time or part-time basis to these units.

A sixth business unit, led by an assistant chief inspector, is responsible for early years education inspections. These are carried out in ELC settings that participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme. These inspections are undertaken on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) in line with a Memorandum of Understanding between the DCEDIY and the Department of Education and the Inspectorate.

In addition, assistant chief inspectors in the five regional units and in the Early Years business unit are responsible for aspects of the policy development and advisory work of the Inspectorate. The Inspectorate’s Early Years unit also provides specialist support for early years policy units in the Department of Education and the DCEDIY.

Although all business units function in close co-operation with other divisions of the Department across areas such as policy development and implementation, three of the Inspectorate’s business units, each of which is led by an assistant chief inspector, have specific policy support responsibilities. These comprise a range of areas including teacher education, early years education, inclusion, Irish in the school system, curriculum and assessment policy, and school improvement. Some policy responsibilities, as well as responsibility for the implementation of Department operational policies in the Inspectorate, lie with regional assistant chief inspectors. For example, data protection, as it relates to the work of the Inspectorate, is currently led by a regional assistant chief inspector.

Figure from page 54

One business unit, the Evaluation Support and Research Unit (ESRU), is responsible for the development and review of the range of inspection models, research, and analysis of inspection data in the

	Chart 2.1: Inspectorate organisational structure Chief Inspector Deputy Deputy Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Business Unit 1: Business Unit 2: Business Unit 3: Business Unit 4: Business Unit 5: North and South East and Midlands and South Region West and Dublin North Dublin South Dublin West Mid-West Region Region Region Region & Secretariat Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Chief Inspector Business Unit 6: Business Unit 7: Business Unit 8: Business Unit 9: An tAonad Evaluation Teacher Curriculum & Early Years um Oideachas Support and Education and Assessment Education Gaeltachta Research Unit Inclusion Policy Support Policy Support Unit Unit
55

Chief Inspector

As Chief	sistant Inspector
Business Unit 1: North and Dublin North Region

A Chie	ssistant f Inspector
Business Unit 2: South East and Dublin South Region & Secretariat

A Chie	ssistant f Inspector
Business Unit 3: Midlands and Dublin West Region

A Chie	ssistant f Inspector
Business Unit 4: South Region

A Chie	ssistant f Inspector
Business Unit 5: West and Mid-West Region

Assista Chief Insp	nt ector
Business Unit 6: Evaluation Support and Research Unit

Assist Chief Ins	ant pector
Business Unit 7: Teacher Education and Inclusion Policy Support Unit

Inspectorate. It also provides a range of supports to inspectors assigned to the Inspectorate’s regional business units to assist them in planning and undertaking their inspection and advisory work.

During the 2016-2020 period, one assistant chief inspector, with the support of an administrative team and a number of inspectors, managed An tAonad um Oideachas Gaeltachta (The Gaeltacht Education Unit) for the Department. This unit is currently responsible for the implementation of the Department’s Policy on Gaeltacht Education, the implementation of the Gaeltacht School Recognition Scheme, and the development of a policy on Irish-medium education outside of Gaeltacht areas.

The administrative work of the Inspectorate is supported by a secretariat.

Table 2.1 outlines the number of inspectors and secretariat staff in service at the end of each calendar year of the period to which this report refers. The numbers are expressed in terms of whole-time equivalents. A comparison with the equivalent data reported in the previous Chief Inspector’s Report, January 2013 – July 2016,47 shows that between July 2016 and December 2020, the number of inspectors employed by the Inspectorate had increased by 9.4%. Meanwhile, over the period to which the current Chief Inspector’s report refers, there was a notable increase in the number of early years educators48, primary teachers (8%) and post-primary teachers (17%).

Table 2.1: Number of inspectors and secretariat staff in service September 2016 – December 2020, expressed as whole-time equivalents

	31/12/2016	31/12/2017	31/12/2018	31/12/2019	31/12/2020
Senior management	11	1349	13	13	13
Senior early years inspectors	-	-	-	-	2
Early years inspectors	12	12	15	15	13
Primary inspectors	33	31	27.8	25.8	31
Primary divisional inspectors	24.6	26.6	26	27	27
Post-primary inspectors	27.5	28.5	30.5	29	32
Senior post-primary inspectors	24.7	24.7	26	22.6	17.6
Inspectorate Secretariat	9.9	10.1	12.1	12.5	11.9

Source: Inspectorate, Department of Education

47 Hereafter referred to as the Chief Inspector’s Report (2016) 48 In 2016/2017, 20,110 early years educators were reported as working directly with children in early learning and care services. In 2019/2020, 26,294 early years educators were reported as working directly with children in early learning and care and in the school-age childcare sector. Sources: Pobal (2017) Early Years Sector Profile 2016/17. Available at: https://www. pobal.ie/research-analysis/early-years/; Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and Pobal (2021) Annual Early Years Sector Profile Report 2019-2020. Available at: https://www.pobal.ie/reearch-analysis/early-years/ 49 One of these positions was assigned outside the Inspectorate to An tAonad um Oideachas Gaeltachta.