April 2010 No. 30

In this Update

Humour

Man: ‘I’m so depressed. I never have any luck with women. As soon as I talk to them they just get bored and drift away’

Counsellor: ‘it sounds as though you may have low self-esteem. If you don’t value yourself, why would anyone else? Let’s talk about it and see if we can build you up a bit.’

Man (3 weeks later): ‘I’m exhausted! I’ve been out with a different woman every night this week and they all want to see me again. I’ve never been so popular!’

Counsellor: ‘that’s great! So, do you want to cancel next week’s appointment?’

Man: ‘no ... I was wondering if I could talk to you about something else instead? I seem to be having a lot of arguments with my wife these days ...’

Client to therapist: ‘my son has become obsessed with his two school bags. Does this mean he’ll end up bisatchel?’

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Good news for CPCAB!

We are delighted to be able to announce that Ofqual have now formally confirmed that CPCAB has achieved all the conditions to operate within the Qualifications and Credit Framework. It has been a challenging process at times and we know that other awarding bodies are still working their way through. For CPCAB the formal approval represents a valuable point of stability in what continues to be an uncertain world!

External assessment

Dates for next year’s external assessment are now available - see CPCAB website for a full timetable.

Health Professions Council

As you may know, the HPC had hoped that their final decision on the proposed regulation of counselling would have been published before the end of 2009. The process proved more complex than anyone had anticipated, however, and final agreement is still to be reached on areas such as protected titles, differentiation (between counsellors and psychotherapists, for example), Standards of Proficiency (SOPs), entry levels etc.

The next meeting of the psychotherapists’ and counsellors’ Professional Liaison Group is scheduled for 12th May and, as before, Head of Qualifications Fiona Ballantine Dykes will be a member of the panel. We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available via the ‘Regulation’ section on the CPCAB website.

Funding matters

The position in terms of funding remains very unclear at the moment and the forthcoming election makes it even less certain.

Please be assured that at CPCAB we will continue to seek any guidance available and will pass on any information we can at the first opportunity. We are also pleased to hear from our tutors if they have found any inventive ways of accessing funding and are prepared to share them with others.

Websites - please check!

With all CPCAB qualifications now formally included on the QCF, now seems to be a good time to remind you to check that the qualifications you are advertising on your centre website are up-to-date and accurate. When doing your planning for 2010/11 please make sure a copy of the information goes to the member of staff responsible for keeping the website up to date. Thank you.

CPCAB qualifications - an updated list

We thought you might find this summary of the QCF versions of our qualifications useful. It includes links to the National Database of Accredited Qualifications and we hope they will save you some valuable minutes!

Qualification QCF qual and LAD number
For 2010
Unit titles/nos Old NQF qual number (prior 2010)
Award in Effective Listening Skills
(ELSK-L2)
500/7794/6

3 credits
Effective Listening Skills
A/600/7087 
500/1457/2
Award in Listening Support Skills
(LSK-L2)
500/7793/4

4 credits
Listening Support Skills
Y/600/8263 
500/1456/0
Award in Understanding Substance Misuse
(USM-L2)
500/4684/6

6 credits
Understanding Substance Misuse
A/501/9973 
No change
Award in Introduction to Counselling Skills
(ICSK-L2)
500/7762/4

5 credits
Introduction to Counselling Skills
H/600/6743 
100/2521/2
Certificate in Counselling Skills
(CSK-L2)
500/7938/4

17 credits
Counselling Skills
A/600/8448
100/2520/0
Certificate in Counselling Studies
(CST-L3)
500/8009/X

18 credits
Developing Understanding of Counselling
M/600/9032 
100/4905/8
Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling
(TC-L4)
500/8088/X

120 credits
Working ethically, safely and professionally as a counsellor
R/600/9346 (14 credits)


Working within a Counselling Relationship
T/600/9355 (22 credits)


Working with Client Diversity in counselling work
J/600/9358 (17 credits)


Working with a user-centred approach to counselling
F/600/9472 (11 credits)


Working with self-awareness in the counselling process
H/600/9478 (16 credits)


Working within a coherent framework of counselling theory and skills
K/600/9482 (30 credits)


Working self-reflectively as a counsellor
F/600/9486 (10 credits)
100/5034/6

For Year 2 TC-L4 candidates starting September 2010 only
Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling
(PC-L5)
500/8386/7

46 credits
Counselling in Independent Practice
H/600/9058 
100/5035/8
Diploma in CBT Skills and Theory
(CBT-L5)
500/8460/4

39 credits
Working as a counsellor using the CBT approach
T/600/9985
500/1636/2
Certificate in Therapeutic Counselling Supervision
(TCSU-L6)
500/8222/X

33 credits
Working as a Therapeutic Counselling Supervisor
F/601/0010 
100/5037/1


The Open University - Introduction to Counselling (module D171)

We hope you’ll bear with us if we repeat our earlier message to centres about using module D171 in place of CPCAB’s Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies as an entry qualification for the Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. A full transcript of our earlier letter to centres is available here https://www.cpcab.co.uk/news/update/march10extra/ and you will see that centres cannot impose an outright ban on D171 students. Some of you have raised concerns about the depth of training offered by D171 and we have taken your comments on board.

However, the decision that D171 is an acceptable alternative for CST-L3 was taken after a good deal of research and we expect that you should at least offer prospective candidates a personal interview. If you are still concerned about any area of their experience, the following suggestions to the prospective candidate may help them to progress to an acceptable level:

You may have other ideas and we would be happy to share them. For our part we have revised the information on our CPCAB website and liaised with the Open University who have done the same. Guidance on the websites now makes it more clear that entry to the Level 4 Diploma is not automatic even for those who hold the required entry qualifications; as the Diploma conveys a licence to practice it is essential that candidates should be capable of working at this level and selection, which is at the training centre’s discretion, is likely to involve a face-to-face interview.

The Unique Learner Number (ULN)

As you may know already, learners who enrol on qualifications in the new Qualifications and Credit Framework are required to have a Unique Learner Number (ULN). 

The ULN is issued by government and is different from the awarding body candidate number or any centre specific number.  The idea is that all learners will carry a unique number with them throughout life (beginning in schools) and that their achievement will be recorded on a central web data base in an individual Personal Learning Record (PLR).  The PLR is still under development but will be available by September 2010.

Centres can get ULNs for their learners (if they do not already have one) by registering with the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP). You can find out more by visiting www.ukrlp.co.uk.

Those centres that do not wish to register with UKRLP or may not have been able to do so by September 2010 when the new QCF qualifications start can ask CPCAB to obtain ULNs for learners on their behalf.

If you ticked the box requesting support with obtaining ULNs in the centre supplementary recognition form we sent out recently, we will get back to you shortly. If you haven’t returned your form yet please do so without delay. Many thanks.

Schemes of work

We have received enquiries from centres about whether the schemes of work they have submitted in the past will be suitable for the newly-structured QCF versions of CPCAB’s qualifications.

As you would imagine, schemes of work vary hugely from centre to centre and many will fit the revised qualifications with few changes, if any. Your External Verifier will be tasked with checking whether appropriate amendments have been made to schemes of work. We are not expecting centres to re-submit their schemes of work to CPCAB unless we specifically request them.

Level 5 Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Skills
and Theory

As you already know, under the new titling conventions of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) the title of a qualification is based on its credit value. Under the new convention, our former Level 5 Certificate in CBT has been re-titled as a Diploma.

Like all CPCAB qualifications, this has undergone some updating and revision, both to incorporate the latest research findings and to meet the design of the new framework. It remains substantially the same qualification though and tutors will find the criteria and learning outcomes familiar.

We have received enquiries from students who took/are taking the qualification in its earlier form as the Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Skills and Theory, who have requested a replacement certificate with the new title. We are unable to do this as the certificates already issued reflect the qualification as it was at the time of taking the assessment and we cannot issue certificates for a qualification which did not exist at the time. Furthermore, although the qualification is equivalent, it is not the same.

For the benefit of both former graduates and potential employers, though, we have produced a letter of equivalence which makes the position clear. If you receive enquiries on this subject please refer to this letter.