Ms Doreen McMorris:

One of the Senators asked what we had learned from North. Perhaps the best way can answer that in the short time available is to explain how we go about that. We have a close association with the Education and Training Inspectorate, ETI, in the North. That association has been built up over a number of years. We work with it in a number of ways. Since 2008 we have engaged in exchanges with the inspectorate in the North. By an exchange I mean that one of our people goes to the North and accompanies or shadows an inspector in the North and learns how they go about their business because they are doing the same job, albeit using different approaches. We find that hugely valuable and we have covered a number of different subject areas over the years since 2008 and also broader areas such as leadership, management and so on. In return a Northern inspector comes here and accompanies our inspectors. We also engage in joint inspections with inspectors in the North. For example, we have inspected a centre for autism in recent years, and a report was published to which our inspectors contributed. We have engaged also in projects such as Dissolving Boundaries, of which members may have heard. That involved a good deal of joint inspection work with our people. Most recently, we have had an inspector from the North work with us here in a further education college, an agricultural college. We are examining how we can use our links with the inspectorate in the North to meet skills gaps on either side within the inspectorate. As our people work closely with the inspectors in the other jurisdiction we learn of other ways of doing the same work. We find it very useful and our experiences have led the chief inspectorate to commit to participating in similar engagements with the inspectorate in Scotland and Wales. We are building on the successful experience we have had. We have regular communications a few times a year at senior management level in the two inspectorates. We have joint meetings - the most recent one was in Dublin - where members of the management of the Northern inspectorate come down and meet us. It took place on 22 January, if I have the date right. They have also attended our annual conference. We have had exchanges at various continuing professional development activities for inspectors. For example, the Gaeltacht course we provide for our inspectors has involved inspectors from the North. It is by those means that we try to learn as much as we can from what happens in the North.