Now 2019 has come to an end and 2020 has begun, Jocelyn Pryce and Richardia Penn of the IBMS Education Department, look back at the old and forward to the new.
Over three months at the end of last year, we underwent refurbishment at the IBMS head office, which we are happy to report is now complete. During this time we were able to maintain turnaround times and continuous support to you, our service users and members, to ensure you received our very best service.
In September, we introduced version 4.2 of the IBMS Registration Training Portfolio for the Certificate of Competence and revised the guidance document to ensure that trainees are meeting both new and revised standards of education and training set out by the HCPC. This has been well received and feedback has been very positive.
We would like to thank our verifiers and examiners, who have taken the time to carry out over 900 verifications and 500 examinations this year. We rely on you to ensure the timely assessments of our candidates as they begin or proceed to the next level of their careers and we are grateful for all your hard work and continuous support.
In addition to the regional training events that were held during 2019, members of the education department attended IBMS Congress 2019 and conducted talks and facilitated workshops on subjects including CPD, verifier/examiner training and study skills to support those on our qualifications. A number of our members have since expressed interest in becoming CPD officers, verifiers and examiners and as a result, we will be hosting a CPD officer’s training day for those of you who have submitted applications or expressed interest.
We are proud to announce several other activities and events planned for 2020. We are looking forward to hosting a number of training days, which will provide you with the training required to verify and examine our portfolios. There has been a continuous increase in the number of verifications and examinations this year (up to 15%) and we welcome those of you who meet the criteria and are keen to support our candidates during the final stages of the qualification, to become a Specialist Portfolio Examiner or a Registration Training Portfolio Verifier. Please keep an eye on our Training Team Information page on the IBMS website (ibms.org/education/training-team-information) for the dates and to book your places.
Also, in February we will be running our first workshop for candidates on our Certificate of Competence by Equivalence route to HCPC registration. We will be providing support to candidates completing the equivalence portfolio and we also welcome the mentors to come along and join us as we explore the portfolio material, provide guidance on the preparation of a portfolio of evidence and the viva assessment.
On behalf of the Education Team here at the IBMS, we would like to thank you for your continued support and wish you all the very best for 2020!