This article covers staff who inspect grant-aided schools, including nursery schools and classes, and voluntary and private settings funded under the Pre-school Education Expansion Programme.

Children’s social care and settings not in receipt of government funding to provide pre-school education are registered and inspected by Early Years Teams, which are specialist teams of social workers within the five regional Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts. For further information, see the article ‘Quality Assurance in Early Childhood and School Education’.

Inspectors of provision in grant-aided schools and pre-school education settings in receipt of public funding are employed by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI). They fall into the following main categories:

1. District Inspectors have responsibility for a group of organisations within a geographic area (which they aim to visit as many times as possible every year), providing a challenge function outside of the normal inspection programme and working with an organisation’s management team to effect improvement;
2. Reporting Inspectors manage the inspection team and are responsible for the planning and conduct of an inspection, for gaining an overview of the organisation’s recent performance, and for gathering information as appropriate;
3. Associate Assessors are senior professionals from external educational organisations who have expertise and experience in a particular area, are appointed by public advertisement and interview, and receive training from the ETI;
4. Inspection Associates are seconded from their organisations to work with the ETI for a specific period and support inspection.

Requirements for appointment

All inspectors who visit schools, further education and early years settings and have contact with children must undergo ‘safer recruitment’ checks before their appointment is confirmed. This includes an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. For more information on safer recruitment requirements, see the subheading ‘Entry to the profession’ in the article on ‘Conditions of Service for Teachers’.

Requirements for positions within the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) vary depending on the specification of the post being advertised. However, they may include:

• a teacher training qualification which meets the requirements to teach in grant-aided schools;
• a bachelor’s degree or postgraduate qualification in education;
• a minimum number of years of teaching experience (this can vary, but the requirement will usually be substantial);
• some experience of working in a post involving management and leadership responsibilities (this can vary depending on the post and the opinion of the recruiting panel).

Associate Assessors involved in inspection are usually practising principals and vice principals or senior managers in their organisations.

Conditions of service

Employees of the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) are civil servants in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. Terms and conditions of service vary according to the level and grade of the post held and an individual’s length of service. They will generally include:

• an occupational pension scheme;
• a leave entitlement of at least 25 days per year, increasing to 30 days after five years’ service, plus 12 public/privilege holidays;
• working hours of 37 per week, excluding meal breaks.

Further information on civil service pay and terms and conditions in the Northern Ireland Civil Service is available from the Department of Finance.

Associate Assessors and Inspection Associates are subject to the terms and conditions of their employing organisation.

Article last reviewed April 2021.