Educational Research Centre

The Educational Research Centre (ERC) was established as a designated statutory body of the Department of Education and Skills under Section 54 of the Education Act (1998) on 9 September 2015 (S.I. no. 392 of 2015 and S.I. No. 309 of 2017).  For the previous 50 years it operated as a functionally autonomous part of St Patrick’s College now incorporated in Dublin City University (DCU).

Mission

The Establishment Order (SI 392 of 2015) draws a distinction between two objects of the Centre:

Providing an assessment support service to schools and centres for education
Conducting independent research on all aspects of education and at all levels of the education system.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of activities consistent with the furtherance of the objects of the function of the Centre based on Articles 8 and 9 of the 2015 Establishment Order.

Enabling schools to assess the attainment levels and academic standards of students as required under Section 9(k) of the Education Act, 1998
Enabling schools to report systematically on the attainment levels and academic standards of students to parents, students, boards of management, the Minister for Education and Skills and others
Assisting schools to identify the special educational needs of individual students
Providing advice to schools and centres for education on the assessment of the attainment levels and academic standards of students
Carrying out national and international assessments of the attainment levels and academic achievement of students and reporting on such assessments to the Minister
Maintaining, storing securely and publishing information on the attainment levels and academic standards of students in schools and centres for education in Ireland
Engaging in the evaluation of educational programmes and activities
Initiating and conducting research consistent with the objects of the Centre, and publishing and disseminating the findings of this research
Building capacity for educational assessment and research in Ireland by making provision for the professional development of staff of the Centre and by providing to others training in, and advice on, areas of its competence
Serving on national and international bodies of relevance to the Centre
Co-operating with other bodies, as appropriate, in research, assessment and evaluation studies and in the dissemination of findings concerning research, assessment and evaluation
Providing consultancy services
Co-operating with other bodies, as appropriate.