User:SeoR/sandbox/Seamus Puirseil

Seamus Puirseil (sometimes Séamus Puirséil, born Dublin, April 1944) is an Irish academic leader, a former primary school teacher who was president of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, director of Ireland's National Council for Educational Awards, and the founding chief executive of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, the national validation and degree-awarding authority which oversaw non-university third-level institutions.

Early life
Puirseil was born in Dublin, and studied in St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, qualifying as a primary school teacher (National Teacher, NT). He later secured a HDipEd, entitling him to teach at second level, and a BA at University College Dublin, later pursuing a Masters in History and Politics there, with a dissertation on Social Bases for Political Party Support in Ireland.

Teaching, the INTO and the CDVEC
Puirseil worked as a primary school teacher, and was active in the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO), of which he was in time elected as president. During his time in office, the INTO launched a new professional journal, An Múinteoir, with the first issue featuring a piece by Seamus Heaney, and Puirseil did a television interview explaining its purpose.

Puirseil was a Fianna Fáil member of the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee (CDVEC), the organisation under Dublin Corporation which administered higher and further education institutions across the city, and of the Governing Body of the Dublin Institute of Technology. He also served as president of Ireland's Association of Vocational Education Colleges. During his time on the CDVEC, his name was credited on publications such as Making materials work : a guide for literacy tutors and Vocational training opportunities scheme : Scoil Ide, Finglas, 1989-1991.

National accreditation bodies
Puirseil was appointed as acting director of Ireland's National Council for Educational Awards, and later as Executive Director, leading the body from 1996 to 2001; in 1997 was quoted on possible recognition of Czech non-university third-level colleges.

In 2001, the NCEA was dissolved and the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC) and Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) were established. Puirseil was appointed as the founding Chief Executive Officer of HETAC, and, in June 2001, the Minister for Education, Michael Woods appointed him as a member of its board also. In 2005, he was quoted on the subject of recognition in Ireland of Chinese qualifications, and on the deliberate increase in the awarding of top degrees by universities, of which he stated that some past students might feel this to be unfair but that "just because a system was unfair 10 years ago, does not mean it has to stay being unfair". Puirseil was also appointed a member of the Further Education and Training Awards Council. He retired from HETAC in June 2008.

From February 2008 to 2010, he served as a member of an expert group reviewing and making recommendations on the training regime for the Irish police force, An Garda Siochana.

International academic QA bodies
Puirseil was a member, and for a period a vice-president, of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). He also worked with the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education, where he was a member, and for a time secretary, of the board, which he left in 2008, and for example later co-planning and coordinating an international workshop for the network in Japan in 2011. After his work with HETAC, Puirseil was invited to serve as president of Dublin Business School.