The Department of Education was delighted to recently host Dr Harold Hislop, Chief Inspector in the Department of Education and Skills, who delivered a webinar ( slides available here ) speaking to the relationship between external inspection processes and the fostering of a culture of collaborative leadership in schools. Dr Harold Hislop became Chief Inspector at the Department of Education in Ireland in 2010. Prior to joining the Inspectorate, Harold taught at primary and university level and he worked as an education and development officer at the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment during the development of the Primary School Curriculum. Since 2010, he has led a series of reforms in the inspection and evaluation of schools in Ireland and has lectured to international conferences on evaluation and inspection in France, Ireland, the UK, Malta and Abu Dhabi. He is a member of the Management Board at the Department of Education and was closely involved in the development of the Department’s Literacy and Numeracy Strategy 2011-2020, which includes a broad range of actions for system improvement in the early childhood, primary and post-primary sectors. He is a current member of the Governing Board of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation at the OECD.