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UpdateJanuary 2014 No. 45

CPCAB website

You may have noticed that our website now has a new look, with an updated layout, colour scheme and logo. We've already had feedback from some of you about the changes. If you'd like to share your views with us, please get in touch!

It's not just the appearance of the website that has received attention, either. We're doing our best to keep our information up to date for the benefit of current, prospective and future centres and learners. The Frequently Asked Questions section has had a thorough make-over recently and questions include registration of counsellors, the joint Open University Foundation Degree and many other areas. We'll continue to keep this updated and hope you find it helpful.

Registration of counsellors (from the CPCAB website)

What is voluntary registration? At the end of 2012 the new Accredited Voluntary Registration (AVR) scheme for health care professions was launched by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). This scheme includes counselling and psychotherapy and replaces all former plans for statutory regulation by the Health Professions Council (HPC). Practitioners are not obliged to be registered in order to practise but registration is likely to be seen as increasingly important for employment in the public sector. Organisations that hold voluntary registers can apply to the PSA to have their register accredited. This involves meeting standards of governance, setting standards for registrants (including education and training) and managing the register. To find out more about voluntary registration visit the PSA website or read our FAQ on the subject.

Standardisation - last session of 2013-14

The last CPCAB standardisation training for this academic year will be held in Birmingham on Saturday, 1st February.

Please note all tutors teaching CPCAB qualifications must be standardised according to the following qualification requirements:

  • ELSK-L2, LSK-L2 & USM-L2: Tutor/trainers only teaching these qualifications will be standardised as part of the centre approval process. They do not need to attend further standardisation training days.
  • ICSK-L2: All new tutors teaching this qualification MUST attend a standardisation training day before or during their first delivery of the qualification but they do not need to attend again each subsequent year.
  • CSK-L2 and all qualifications at Level 3 and above: All new tutors and at least one tutor from each centre MUST attend a standardisation training day every year. Other tutors are required to attend once every two years provided the training is 'cascaded' to them by their attending colleague in the intervening year.

If tutors from your centre have not already attended or booked onto the Birmingham training they will need to attend. To book your place please complete our online booking form.

If you have any queries or would like to discuss the requirements further please contact Jackie.

New fees from September 2014

Please note that our new fee structure comes into force with effect from September 2014. These fees apply to the UK only. For overseas charges please contact CPCAB.

External assessment dates - important!

External assessment dates for the 2014/15 academic year are now available on our website. You will see that the EA dates for levels 5 and 6 have been timetabled slightly later than usual during the autumn term, in response to tutor feedback, in order to give a longer gap between EA 'windows'. We hope you find this helpful.

If you have any enquiries relating to external assessment in any way at all, please contact Marina. Thank you.

Feedback from stakeholders

You may have been asked for your feedback on many occasions and it is very important to us. We are required by our regulator, Ofqual, to collect feedback from tutors and candidates to provide evidence of the relevance and appropriateness of CPCAB qualifications. Your views, whether positive or otherwise, are carefully considered and used to inform future developments and updates as part of our 'programme of continued improvements'.

This year we have made use of SurveyMonkey, an online facility that helps us to quantify the results of our various surveys. We thought you might be interested to see the results of the qualification feedback forms completed by tutors during the academic year to date. It's very pleasing to see that there is so much to celebrate! But your suggestions for improvements are also very important to us: thanks for taking the time to think things through and share your thoughts with us.

If you haven't had the opportunity to send us your views, please feel free to do so via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Tutorfeedback2013-14.

Learners' views are also an important part of our programme of improvements: a recent survey of CPCAB learners revealed the following results:

To view a candidate feedback form, use this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Candidatefeedback2013-14.

We regret that it's not possible to reply to survey forms individually. Learners with particular concerns are encouraged to raise them directly with their centres.

Funding in relation to Diploma students in cases of delayed certification

As you know, potential funding from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) for eligible Diploma (TC-L4) students takes the form of the new 24+ Advanced Learning Loans. This funding is paid in instalments directly to centres.

However, at least one centre has expressed concern that the 'achievement element' of such funding may be denied when it comes to those Diploma students whose CPCAB certification is delayed for several months because they still need to complete the required client-hours - even though they have completed their course and successfully passed the external assessment.

We are pleased to reassure any such concerned centres that the SFA have indicated that achievement funding will not be withheld in such circumstances.

If your centre has any problems or concerns about this matter, then please contact your allocated SFA Relationship Manager, who should then provide you with an e-mail, for audit, authorising you to claim achievements at the end of the two year course as long as the learner achieves the external assessment.

TC-L4 placement hours - working with children

A reminder that, according to CPCAB guidelines, no more than 30% of client hours can be working with children. In every case where work with children is allowed, specialist training must be provided either by the centre or by the placement. For full details see TC-L4 tutor support document Guidance to workplace experience.

However, the ONE exception to this is where the counselling placement is with Place2be, in which case up to 50% of client hours can be working with children if this has been agreed by the centre. This is because CPCAB has entered into a unique agreement with Place2be in recognition of the high quality of specialist training and supervision offered to their volunteer counsellors. Furthermore, candidates on Place2be placements can choose to take the additional specialist QCF Level 4 Certificate in Working with Children which has been developed for Place2be. This requires an additional portfolio and case study, but the client hours and supervision can be used towards both qualifications. Please visit the Place2be website for further details.

Important note: CPCAB guidelines are intended to set out what is permissible. However, decisions relating to placements belong to centres which may have their own preferences and guidelines about working with children. Candidates are advised to check with their centre before taking up any placement to ensure that the hours can be counted towards their diploma.

CPCAB progression route

We've produced a short video about the progression route that links together CPCAB's qualifications.

Centres are free to embed this video in their own student recruitment webpage, or to send out links to it, or to download and use it on a promotional DVD. We hope you find it helpful.

TutorNet

The pilot form of TutorNet – an online community that we've launched for tutors, trainers and other centre staff – has now gone live and currently has 128 members (and counting), including over 100 tutors at CPCAB-registered centres.

Invitations to join TutorNet were sent out by email a while ago. To accept the invitation you just need to click on the link contained within the email. If you didn't receive an email, or have misplaced the original and would like a new invitation, then please contact our Network Administrator, Clare Bewley.

We hope that TutorNet will help to facilitate additional 'resources for courses' as well as foster mutual support/inter-communication amongst tutors.

Shameless self-promotion on TutorNet:

Did you know that you can use TutorNet to promote and publicise whatever interests you or whatever you're involved with?

For example, you could publicise:

  • Your Facebook page or Twitter account.
  • A forthcoming event that you're involved with.
  • A website that you like or are involved with.
  • An article, booklet or book that you like … or have written.
  • A blog that you like or have written (and/or you can start a blog on TutorNet).
  • A video that you like … or have helped to produce.
  • A review of your favourite film.

...none of which need necessarily be related to counselling or tutoring.

Or you could post – or start a discussion thread or new group on TutorNet – about whatever it is that interests you personally within the field of counselling.

The TutorNet help menu explains how you can upload files of all types (including videos, audio files and photos), or post links to external websites.

It's simple to use TutorNet in this way ... usually it just takes a few mouse clicks and you're there.

Counselling and the Medical Model

Our video – “Counselling and the Medical Model” – is now available for watching on The Counselling Channel.

It features three of our counselling professionals discussing the 'medical model', including how it's applied in treating mental and emotional distress, the problems this causes and the implications for counselling practice.

Adult Learners' Week 2014

Adult Learners' Week 2014 is an annual celebration of adult learning which this year takes place on June 16th – 20th.

A key part of the week is the awards ceremony, with awards that include those for individuals and learning projects. This is a chance to showcase your organisation or business via: http://www.alw.org.uk/awards/2014. Nominations close very soon.

Humour

Two Doctors opened offices in a small town and put up a sign reading “Dr Smith and Dr Jones - Psychiatry and Proctology”.

The town council were not too happy with the sign and so the doctors changed it to “Hysterias and Posteriors”. This was not acceptable either, so in an effort to satisfy the council they changed the sign to “Schizoids and Haemorrhoids”. Thumbs down again.

Then the story appeared in the local paper and suggestions began rolling in:
“Manic-depressives and anal retentives”
“Minds and Behinds”
“Lost souls and Assholes”
“Analysis & Anal Cysts”
“Nuts & Butts”
“Freaks & Cheeks”
“Loons & Moons”.

None of these satisfied one or the other side, but they finally settled on ...
“Dr Smith & Dr Jones, Odds & Ends”.