Federal Education Quality Assurance Service

Brief History
The Federal Education Quality Assurance Service was established in 1973 in recognition of the need for the Federal Ministry of Education to continue to provide leadership and formulate national policy for the purposes of planning and quality assurance nationwide.

The FIS existed as a semi-autonomous body until 1988 when, due to the Civil Service Reorganization Act No. 43, FIS lost its autonomy.

FIS Vision
To have a dynamic Quality Assurance Service that ensures effective and efficient Education delivery below tertiary level.

FIS Mission
To set agreed National Education Standards that ensures optimal attainment in all Institutions below tertiary level, through Quality Assurance process that guarantees efficient and effective curriculum delivery and good educational management for improved learner achievement in a globally competitive environment.

FIS Mandate
The Legal backing for the practice was enacted as Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act 16 of 1985. In addition, the National Policy on Education (1988 and 2004) mandates FIS to:

 Set, maintain and improve standards in all aspects of the school system.
 Ensure uniform standard and quality control of instructional activities in schools through regular inspection and continuous supervision.
 Obtain information on problems and difficulties of teachers and Institutions and proffer practical solutions to them.
 Encourage dissemination of information on innovation and progressive educational principles and practices in the school system through publications, workshops, meetings, seminars conferences, etc.

NATIONAL QUALITY ASSURANCE GOALS
Develop and improve effective internal and external mechanisms to enhance
Learners achievement that satisfy the needs of stakeholders, accountable to
the public and meet global challenges.

CORE VALUES OF FIS
The Department has as its Core Values the following:
 Accountability 
 Collaboration 
 Integrity

 FUNCTIONS OF FEQAS

The Department translated the policy goals into the following mandates:

Undertake regular inspection of all schools in the country below the tertiary level to ensure effective and comprehensive implementation of curriculum and pedagogy standards through:

-Whole School Evaluation 

-Special Evaluation 

-Accreditation

Collaborating with relevant agencies to evaluate the quality of instructional materials and their appropriateness;

Ensuring attainment of minimum and uniform standards in educational practices nationwide through compliance with the National Policy on Education;

Undertaking regular capacity building for Inspectors, teachers, subject heads, head teachers, principals of schools and other stakeholders;

Developing and regularly reviewing instruments for monitoring effectiveness of organization and administration of schools and their corporate lives;

I. Developing a code of conduct for Inspectors and ensuring compliance;

II. Disseminating information on Quality Assurance services through the production of periodic publications such as Journals and Newsletters;

Provide professional guidance and support to states and LGEAs on how evaluation will be organized and conducted;

III. Be responsible for the registration and accreditation of evaluators;

IV. Create systems for monitoring the quality of Whole School evaluation and the work of evaluators;

V. Evaluating performance and contributions of states and LGEAs to the implementation of quality assurance policy;

VI. Establish and maintain an accessible database on the findings from the states and LGEAs Whole School evaluation reports, data, information, and other vital statistics that can be used to refine indicators and provide benchmark data;

VII. Encourage dissemination of information on innovation and progressive educational principles and practices in the school system through publications, workshops, meeting, seminars, conferences, etc;

VIII. Determine the benchmarks against which schools are evaluated;

IX. Ensure that states follow standards and benchmarks for evaluation of schools;

X. Prepare an Annual Report on the State of Education nationally for the Honourable Minister.

XI. Organize National Annual Retreat of Zonal Directors, Coordinating Inspectors and some directorate Officers of IHQ;

XII. Prepare an Annual Report on FIS Activities Nationwide.

 Quality Service

STRUCTURE/STAFF STRENGTH
FIS is headed by a Director, GL 17 at the Headquarters office. There are six Zonal Offices in the six geo-political zones of the Federation and thirty-six (36) state offices and FCT office. The zonal offices are headed by Directors but presently there is only one substantive Director heading South-East zones; while the state offices are headed by Coordinating Inspectors who are normally Deputy Directors.However, only 20 state offices are manned by Deputy Directors.
Structure of FIS at HQ
The Department has 5 Divisions each headed by a Deputy Director.
The Divisions are:
 Inspectorate Whole School Evaluation Division (I-WSE);
 Inspectorate Human Resources Division (I-HR);
 Inspectorate Planning and Policy Implementation Division (I-P&PI);
 Inspectorate Curriculum and Pedagogy Division (I-C&P);
 Inspectorate General Services Division (I-GS).

Head: xxx
  Director