Latest Circular
Circular 56/2022 School Self-Evaluation: Next Steps September 2022 – June 2026 was released in August 2022.
2023-2026:
During this three-year period, schools will have the autonomy to choose the focus of their SSE, subject to having a concise three-year SSE plan that enables them to address:
- Context-specific school priorities related to teaching, learning, equity and inclusion
- National wellbeing goals
- National curriculum goals
- Other national strategies, for example, the Digital Strategy for Schools and the National Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development.
In this regard, the SSE process will enable schools to address context-specific school priorities and also review the effectiveness of their current provision and its impact on pupils’/students’ learning and experiences in the context of national priorities and national curriculum goals. It will also enable schools to put actions in place to improve their provision and the experiences of pupils/students in relation to these areas while also meeting national policy and curriculum requirements.
It is likely that some areas of focus selected by a school will complement each other. In such cases, schools will have the flexibility to address these areas of focus concurrently. In other cases, schools may choose to address areas of focus consecutively using a staged approach. The three-year SSE plan should indicate the school’s intentions in this regard.
Looking at Our Schools
The DES has also produced an updated version of Looking at our School: A Quality Framework for Primary Schools 2022 (PDF), which replaces the 2016 document. Looking at Our School 2022 is designed to underpin both SSE and school inspections.
Archive
View information on SSE 2016-2022 here: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d937d-school-self-evaluation-primary/