Research Services to Update Ireland's Quality Assurance Standards for Further Education and Higher Education Assessment

QQI (Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland) seeks research services to strengthen its standards-based assessment infrastructure for further education and training (FET) and higher education (HE) providers. The research will establish an evidence base to support QQI's quality assurance responsibilities, which include external quality assurance of education providers, awarding bodies, and implementation of Ireland's National Framework of Qualifications. Key deliverables include: gathering stakeholder views on current assessment quality assurance practices and identifying gaps; documenting what works well and areas for improvement in the quality assurance of assessment (including interpretation and use of assessment results); understanding how Irish awarding bodies evaluate the effectiveness of their assessment-related policies for both summative and formative purposes; and conducting international comparative analysis of assessment quality assurance practices used by awarding bodies, providers, quality assurance agencies, and regulators in selected countries outside Ireland. This research will inform QQI's updates to its standards-based assessment infrastructure and quality assurance guidelines.