Following the launch of our revised standards of education and training, we have begun a two-part review into the principles and processes that underpin our method of regulation. Its aim is to make sure our methods reflect the new standards and are fit for purpose in an evolving educational landscape.
Approving and monitoring programmes
This review will look at the processes we use to approve new education and training programmes, and how we monitor them after they have been approved.
As part of the review we will review the following areas.
- The approval process and how we manage it, including how we monitor effectiveness.
- The content of visits and how we manage them, looking at whether this should vary depending on the type of programme we are visiting and how we should involve other regulators and professional bodies.
- How we communicate with education providers.
- How we support visitors.
We are planning to have improvements in place by April 2019, in time for the 2019–20 academic year.
The principles of our approach
This review will explore the advantages and disadvantages of our current approach, and whether there could be more opportunity for collaboration with other regulators within the sector and professional bodies.
The review will consider whether:
- managing risk is an effective principle for making sure standards are being met;
- open-ended approval is an effective way to manage risk;
- education providers should be assessed differently depending on their type and how they meet our standards;
- our standards should continue to be flexible; and
- data we currently use to review our own work useful.
We anticipate consulting publicly on any significant changes we propose to make in 2019, with changes coming into effect in Spring 2020.
We will use feedback from education providers, visitors, the Education and Training Committee, and another regulators and professional bodies to form the basis of any changes we make as a result of these reviews.
Charging fees
As part of a new strategic focus to invest in our services and promote professionalism, the Education and Training Committee are also considering the possibility of charging a fee to assess education and training programmes. This feeds into our consultation on proposals to increase registration fees. You can read more about our strategic objectives in our five-year plan.