How to become an IRCA approved Training Organisation presenting certified courses
Transcription
How to become an IRCA approved Training Organisation presenting certified courses
How to become an IRCA approved Training Organisation presenting certified courses How to become an IRCA approved Training Organisation presenting certified courses Thank you for your interest in becoming an IRCA approved training provider. To present IRCA certified training courses you must obtain approval to operate as an IRCA approved Training Organisation (TO) and IRCA certification for each training course. Links to the criteria documents on our website are included in this information. IRCA/2000 Requirements for Training Organisation Approval and IRCA/3000 How to apply for and maintain Training Organisation Approval and Training Course Certification are essential reading. Steps & procedures There is a two-stage application process for IRCA approval of training organisations and IRCA certification of training courses which you should expect to take a minimum of eight weeks, but we would advise you to allow longer. The process is as follows: Stage One: application fees Application fees are charged to cover costs for both training organisation approval and course certification. Details can be found in IRCA/151 fees and charges • Application fee for training organisation approval (currently GBP 965) • Application fee for each training course certification is dependent on the type of course certification applied for Stage One: Desktop review (twenty working days minimum from receipt of complete documentation) • Submit application for training organisation approval and course certification – see table below • IRCA reviews your management system documents and your course materials IRCA Training Organisation Approval IRCA Certification of your Training Course(s) To obtain approval you must demonstrate that your management system is capable of presenting training that is: • consistently controlled • competently presented • capable of assessing student performance • continuously improved and updated Your course must meet the requirements of the relevant IRCA training course criteria and is expected to be designed to include a variety of teaching methods – see the Training Methods section and Appendix: Notes for Guidance of the relevant course criteria – note that tutor-led slide presentations as a sole method to help students learn new knowledge is not acceptable. Each training course must: • cover the defined learning objectives • use appropriate training methods to help students learn the skills and knowledge included in the learning objectives • assess whether each student has achieved the learning objectives • be delivered by competent tutors • meet the defined duration and student:tutor ratio requirements To begin the application process you must submit the following: • completed application form (IRCA 3000, Appendix A) • training organisation application fee (see IRCA/151 fees and charges) • documents for desktop review in order to demonstrate how you meet the requirements of IRCA/2000 must be in English: • your organisation structure • current list of subcontractors (if appropriate) • list of proposed tutors • documented processes for i. controlling the administration of IRCA certified training courses ii. qualifying tutors iii. assessing student performance and managing examinations iv. continuously improving your training To begin the application process you must submit the following: • completed application form (IRCA 3000, Appendix B) • relevant training course application fee (see IRCA/151 fees and charges) • minimum materials to be provided for desktop review in order to demonstrate how your course meets the requirements of the relevant IRCA training course criteria: i. course programme ii. course notes for students iii. course notes for tutors, including session plans iv. any supplementary materials (exercises, etc) v. p roposed certificates of successful completion and attendance certificates vi. tutor competence/ qualification/ training information vii. a document which cross-references in which session(s) each of the IRCA learning and enabling objectives are met WWW.IRCA.ORG Page 2 of 3 Stage Two: Initial on-site assessment (after completion of stage one) • IRCA completes an initial assessment of your management system and a presentation of your training course • If criteria are satisfied, IRCA approves your Training Organisation and Certification of your training course Following successful completion of the on-site assessments, you will be provided with the “IRCA Approved Training Organisation” mark and the “IRCA Certified Training Course” mark. Details of their permitted use can be found in IRCA/2000 section 2.3. Stage Two: Initial on-site assessment fees and charges You are required to pay all costs incurred in the initial assessment of your training course and training organisation management system. These costs include: • Training Assessor fees (currently GBP 525/day) • Training Assessor travel expenses • Training Assessor accommodation and meal expenses • Travel day fees if the organisation is based/ course is held outside of the United Kingdom – see IRCA/151 for details Annual fees and charges • Training course annual fee: the fee depends on the course type. An invoice for the annual fee (pro-rata) will be sent on confirmation of certification of your training course and thereafter in January every year • There is no annual fee for maintaining training organisation approval • Levy fee: this fee is charged each time you present an IRCA certified course. The fee depends on the course type Subsequent course certification applications Once you have one five-day lead auditor course certified the application fee for the certification of other courses is significantly reduced. Otherwise the process is the same: a desktop review followed by an initial assessment of a course presentation. © Copyright IRCA – 2013 International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) 2nd Floor North Chancery Exchange 10 Furnival Street London EC4A 1AB United Kingdom Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 20 7245 6833 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7245 6844 WWW.IRCA.ORG Benefits of IRCA course certification • Recognition from the world’s leader in training course certification • Promotion of your courses and your organisation by using the IRCA Approved TO and Certified course marks • Help with improving your training through improvement-focussed assessment • Clear and flexible criteria to help your course design and delivery • Promotion of your organisation and courses on the IRCA website in the find a course section • A dedicated IRCA account manager and training assessor to assist you with your training course certification and organisation approval. Maintaining TO approval and course certification IRCA will carry out regular surveillance visits of your management arrangements and certified course(s); frequency of these visits is determined by your organisation’s size and complexity – see IRCA/3000 Appendix C. We reserve the right to undertake surveillance of your management of IRCA certified training and your delivery of IRCA certified training courses wherever these activities take place. Surveillance charges • Training Assessor fees (currently GBP 525/day) • Training Assessor travel expenses • Training Assessor accommodation and meal expenses • Travel day fees if the organisation is based/ course is held outside of the United Kingdom – see IRCA/151 for details Information to be provided to IRCA • data on all certified courses to be provided bi-annually on dedicated form IRCA/120 • comprehensive list of your approved tutors, updated as appropriate • list of your subcontractors and branches, updated as appropriate See IRCA/3000, sections 3 and 4. Training Organisation Approval & Course Certification Process (Typically not more than 16 weeks maximum) Approval of Training Organisation (Typically not more than 8 weeks) Training Course Certification (Typically not more than 8 weeks) Note: Step 2 and 5 (and respective subsequent steps) may be done simultaneously to expedite the process. This must be agreed with the IRCA Account Manager. The time frame for approval and certification is dependant on; a) the number of findings raised and how quickly these can be addressed, b) the dates that you wish to conduct the Initial Assessment and IRCAs availability to do so. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Contact IRCA Account Manager for initial DiscussionStep Submission of Management System Documentation Document Review of your Training Organisation Management System Recommended to proceed Close out findings with IRCA Technical Assessor. (Submission of revised documentation) All findings must be closed out prior to Training Organisation Approval or Course Certification. This will allow you to discuss your requirements with one of the team and for you to ask any questions you may have Step 4 YES NO Initial Assessment of your Training Organisation Management System Close out of findings with IRCA Technical Assessor as advised. Either by submission of revised materials or a further management system audit. Approval YES Step 5 Step 6 Submission of Course Materials & Documentaiton Document Review of your Training Course Materials NO All findings must be closed out prior to Organisation Approval or Course Certification. Step 7 Recommended to proceed YES Initial Assessment of your Training Course NO For organisations applying for an additional course to be certified, should start from step 5. Close out of findings with IRCA Technical Assessor. (Submission of corrected materials (See Additional information). All findings must be closed out prior to progressing to Initial Assessment. Step 8 Recommended for Certification YES Course Certified (following approval from HO) NO Close out of findings with IRCA Technical Assessor as advised. Either by submission of revised materials or a further witnessing of the course delivery. (See Additional information) All findings must be closed out prior to Course Certification. Additional Information: • Q) When will IRCA certify a course retrospectively? (Certification awarded to courses that the Training Organisation runs prior to Step 8 being reached). • Q) Why could IRCA require us to revise our course materials following the Initial Assessment? – If we passed the Document review stage haven’t our materials satisfied the requirements? • A) IRCA will typically offer certification to courses that run following the successful completion of the document review stage (step 6), so long as there are no significant findings raised at the initial assessment. This must be agreed with IRCA after the desktop review. • A) The desktop review is an extensive but broad evaluation of the materials, designed to spot any major deficiencies. For example, topics not covered, or totally unacceptable timings. The initial assessment is a demonstration of how the materials work collectively to support the tutor in delivering the training, and therefore allows the Technical Assessor to see areas in which the course materials (eg programme, session plans etc) may need some adjustment. • Q) Are there any occasions when not all of these steps have to be followed in order to gain certification? • A) Yes. We take a pragmatic and reasonably flexible approach to help support your business, whilst doing what’s needed to maintain the integrity of our decision making. If you already have Training Organisation approval, then for any course for which you require certification, you only need to start from step 5 (as the management system will cover all courses). It isn’t always even necessary to do step 7 either. A typical example would be if a Training organisation already had a QMS Lead auditor course certified, and wanted to get a QMS conversion course certified. The Conversion course would typically only have to go through document review, so long as it was an already approved tutor delivering the course. Should you wish to discuss a scenario like this, please feel free to contact the account management team who will advise you on the options available.