School Inspection update

The pay settlement, which was agreed by the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee on Friday 4 April 2025, brought an end to the industrial action short of strike of the teaching unions.

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) has a statutory duty to inspect schools so will be continuing its work in schools unimpeded by the action short of strike action from Monday 28 April 2025.

The school inspections impacted recently by the action short of strike of the teaching unions will be rescheduled in due course. A notice period of two weeks will be applied, as per normal inspection arrangements. These inspections will apply the new model of inspection, the Empowering Improvement Framework. Details on the Framework can be found here: Empowering Improvement – New Framework for Inspection

ETI’s mission is to ‘empower improvement’ and its vision is ‘to be the voice for equity and excellence for all learners’.  We have worked extensively with all stakeholders, including the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) to “lower the stakes and raise the impact” of inspection.  The Empowering Improvement Framework has received strong endorsement from those senior leaders and teachers who have direct experience of it, seeing it as a helpful catalyst for school improvement.

We look forward to continuing our work with schools, and take this opportunity to wish all school staff and pupils a happy Easter break.

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