1.2 Management of quality assurance and embedding a quality culture
1.2.1 Introduction
Quality assurance and continuous improvement are essential to ensure King’s Inns remains relevant, effective, and responsive to the evolving needs of learners, staff, members, the barrister profession, and society in general. Continuous improvement involves an ongoing effort to enhance all aspects of academic and administrative performance, including teaching and learning, learner services, governance, and operations.
The basic activities of our quality management system are captured in our policies and procedures. Each policy has an owner who is responsible for ensuring implementation of the policy and review of the policy as required or as specified in the policy.
The QA framework at King’s Inns and the arrangements we have in place to manage quality assurance are designed to take account of the small size, specialised role and capacity within the organisation. We aim to have right-fit processes for the size and scale of the organisation and to meet the needs of the learners we serve. Learners at King’s Inns come to King’s Inns with significant business, professional and educational experience and qualifications. Most of our courses are offered on a part-time basis and many of our learners attend King’s Inns while continuing to work full-time. Our advanced diploma courses are delivered in the main online and learners attend campus only for specialised subject lectures.
King’s Inns is committed to delivering quality legal education. Our strategic objectives underpin our commitment to quality at the highest levels. Our strategies to manage quality assurance and continuous improvement take account of the context and size of the organisation and the types of learners who study with us.
1.2.2 QA Strategic Objectives
Quality is embedded in the King’s Inns mission, vision and values
Quality management, continuous improvement and quality assurance objectives are stated in the strategic plan.
The learner journey is central to everything we do.
Promoting continuous improvement
Our policies and procedures support ongoing evaluation and enhancement. They provide the flexibility to change and adapt to new and emerging needs of learners.
Learners are surveyed at the end of a programme and bi-annually for the Diploma and Degree programmes and their feedback is used by coordinators to inform revisions to programme materials, assessments and teaching and learning strategies.
Staff collaboration, teamwork and communication between departments is actively encouraged.
Attention to detail, one to one feedback and pride in one’s work are core values and standards that are fostered at King’s Inns.
Staff newsletters / bulletins as well as Town Hall meetings provide staff with up-to-date and relevant information on the organisation.
Feedback is used to drive academic and administrative improvement. All feedback is considered at SMT level and informs direction and operational improvement.
Building capacity and ownership
Staff are encouraged, empowered and trained to deliver quality services and to identify opportunities for improvement.
The role of the Council and its Committees in quality assurance and continuous improvement is set out in their terms of reference.
The Dean provides a monthly report to Standing Committee and the Education Committee on School activities.
The Registrar’s annual report is presented to Standing Committee and is included in the Annual Report presented at the AGM to members. It includes detailed statistical information on learner outcomes.
1.2.3 Managing Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement
Quality Assurance Framework
The King’s Inns Quality Assurance Framework documents the context and overarching principles for the development and implementation of quality assurance policies and procedures at King’s Inns. The Framework sets out principles and standards for developing and then ensuring a quality culture across all the activities of the King’s Inns School of Law.
Policy on Developing Policies
The Policy on Developing Policies sets out transparent and comprehensive procedures for policy initiation, development, approval, implementation, monitoring and review at King’s Inns.
By using agreed policy development procedures, we aim to ensure that policies that are:
developed in a manner that involves all the relevant stakeholders,
accessible to staff, learners and the public (as required), in usable formats,
compliant with applicable laws and national / international best practice benchmarks,
reviewed to ensure that they are fit-for-purpose and remain effective, and,
promote a culture of quality within King’s Inns.
Internal and external review
The following King’s Inns policies set out the mechanisms for internal review, self-evaluation and monitoring of teaching and learning, governance and information management:
The internal quality assurance system is connected to King’s Inns external QA obligations, including QQI review and any national or international regulatory or accreditation systems, both statutory and voluntary.
Leadership and governance support
As a small organisation, every individual, team and function plays a key role in delivering quality education provision at King’s Inns.
In place of a dedicated quality management officer, the SMT has a co-ordinating role for all quality matters:
Responsibility for quality improvement and the management of programmes rests with the Dean, the team of Co-ordinators and the School of Law Faculty Board;
Quality assurance of the awarding functions rests with the Registrar – admissions, assessment, exams, external examiners, examination boards;
The School of Law Faculty Board is the body charged with establishing and maintaining academic standards and enhancing the quality of the learner experience at King’s Inns;
Quality assurance of facilities rests with the Head of Business Operations;
Quality assurance of library and online library resources rests with the Librarian;
Overall responsibility for governance and the allocation of resources rests with the Standing Committee;
The Education Committee is responsible for academic quality assurance policy matters.
Administrative team meetings are held weekly where issues, student feedback and questions, weekly work programmes and learning supports are discussed, planned and allocated.
Learners are encouraged to approach and raise issues via the administration team. These are brought immediately to the attention of the Dean/ Registrar/ relevant member of Senior Management Team.
The class representative system allows learners to have their say in relation to facilities and organisational support requirements.
An Auditor is elected annually from student body. They appoint a committee to manage extra-curricular activities for students.
Data-informed decision making
Data and statistical information are collected, collated and presented in the annual report for members to review at the AGM.
Quantitative data is collated to inform decision making i.e. the number of withdrawals, deferrals, leave of absence applications, pass/fail rates, appeals.
Qualitative feedback is received through student surveys. This feedback is provided to programme co-ordinators and relevant SMT departments for analysis, review and recommendations for improvements.
The annual budgeting process evaluates spending requests with information from these sources.
Programme monitoring and review
The Programme Monitoring and Review Policy recognises that programme monitoring, and programme reviews are integral parts of the quality assurance and enhancement cycle, and that they should be embedded, integrated and ongoing, involving both internal and external stakeholders. The policy defines two main types of programme evaluation:
Programme monitoring is an annual process of collecting and analysing feedback and data on the delivery, performance and impact of a programme, and identifying and implementing actions for improvement.
Programme review is a periodic process of conducting a comprehensive and critical appraisal of one or more programmes, based on self-evaluation and external peer review, and resulting in recommendations for enhancement or change.
Ongoing monitoring and review of programmes of education are essential elements of the quality assurance system to ensure that quality and standards are maintained, issues addressed, improvements are implemented, and that programmes are responsive to learners’ needs.
Programme monitoring and review involves staff across the organisation - dean, registrar, coordinators, learners, learning technologist, teaching and administrative staff who are directly engaged in teaching, learning and assessment.
Stakeholder Engagement
Procedures are in place for learner and staff feedback, Learner Feedback Policy and Staff Communication and Development Policy.
Policies and procedures are designed in consultation with all those involved in their implementation, Policy on Developing Policies.
QA outcomes and actions are communicated via staff bulletins, Moodle updates for learners and reports to Education and Standing Committees, the Council and to members at the AGM.
1.2.4 Embedding a quality culture
Training and professional development
The policy on staff development is set out in the Staff Communication and Development Policy. Provisions to support embedding a quality culture include:
Workshops and training sessions are organised, as required
Funding for education and training programmes
Learning Technologist works with teaching staff on using the learning platform, presentation of materials and the use of technology
Staff are encouraged to attend relevant conferences
Membership of relevant networks and associations, such as Irish Law Teachers Association, prior learning.ie, Library Association of Ireland, British & Irish Association of Law Librarians
Effective communication
The Staff Communication and Development Policy sets out our approach to communication internally. The Public Information and Communication Policy sets out how we communicate with the public, with prospective learners and with stakeholders.
We strive to mark achievements and celebrate success, for example, in our conferring ceremonies, by marking achievements in academic results and in external competitions. We have a range of bursaries, prizes and awards annually. Success in these competitions is marked and celebrated.
Technology and Data Systems
Developments in information and data systems include the implementation of a new student management system. This will enable us to collate all learner information into one source thus removing the manual collation of data currently in place.
