About Qualit.ie

Qualit.ie Consulting offers access to specific expertise.

Qualit.ie’s principal consultant, Sean O’Reilly has worked in education & training throughout his career, gaining significant and varied experience in schools and further / higher education. He began his career as a secondary school teacher in the UK, teaching ICT and Mathematics. He worked as head of department, initial teacher trainer and mentor. He coordinated CPD (Continuing Professional Development) on the use of ICT for teaching and learning for several years working with both primary and secondary schools.

He spent 6 years as external school improvement adviser and inspector, providing support to senior leadership teams in a number of secondary and primary schools. In this role, he supported schools dealing with planning, monitoring, self-evaluation, external inspection, finance, human resources and the appointment of senior leaders. He also led the implementation of a large regional e-learning programme across four local authorities’ schools, colleges and small businesses (600 sites).

On returning to Ireland, Sean worked full-time with the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland from 2008 until 2011. He worked in communication and implementation of the National Framework of Qualifications and led activities relating to the implementation of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) in Ireland. This role included coordinating the development of a national online database of education & training programmes and steering initial implementation of the Europe-wide EQF Portal. He continues to work as a consultant and has provided expertise for a number of NQF referencing / comparison activities.

From December 2012 until November 2018, Sean coordinated development and implementation of the Irish Survey of Student Engagement (ISSE, subsequently renamed StudentSurvey.ie), the first national survey of students in higher education. This role required consensus building with all state-funded higher education institutions, and other national stakeholders. StudentSurvey.ie remains one of only a handful of such system-wide developments worldwide and has formative links with similar surveys in the US and Australia. Since 2018, Sean has worked to establish a new data analytics function to leverage the potential of data to inform decision-making.

As an independent consultant, Sean has supported organisations, in Ireland and internationally, on a wide range of activities including independent evaluation and review, project management, engaging with stakeholders, effective implementation of student data management systems, strategic business planning, and migrating to a learning outcomes-based approach to education and training.

Qualit.ie Consulting can access other specific expertise as required for particular projects.