In my capacity as Chair of CILIP South East Branch, I attended the CILIP in Hants and Wight AGM on 25th March. Over 30 people attended the AGM, which included a talk by Michael Martin from CILIP about the Framework of Qualifications. This was a very useful overview of the different levels of qualification offered by CILIP – from ACLIP to Chartership, to Fellowship. For those of us needing to get our heads round these different levels, and to have an idea about how the process works, Michael provided a clear and concise outline. For anyone going through or contemplating one of the qualifications, his tips on building portfolios, including how to reflect and evaluate, were highly useful – especially since he has recentlly revalidated his own Chartered status, so could give some first -hand examples and advice. He mentioned some potential changes to the Framework, namely the possiblity of introducing compulsory revalidation, which I think in principle a good idea, although subsequent questions brought up issues like lack of employer support/lack of money for training as potential barriers to gaining an initial qualification, let alone revalidating. I look forward to the debate which will inevitably follow! Michael’s session went down very well, and was followed by a lively set of questions ans answers, which had to be cut short due to time running out. It was great to see the conversations continuing over tea after the AGM business was concluded. Photos from the event can be viewed on the South East Branch flickr site.
