I am delighted to be asked to provide an update for ADSO members on the qualifications this week. As you are probably aware, we reviewed and updated both the Certificate and Diploma in 2017 and both take up and progress since then have been very good;
- 43 learners have completed the Certificate and 7 the Diploma
- 28 learners are currently working towards the Certificate and 21 towards the Diploma
- we have 25 prospective learners for the March 2020 Certificate cohort
It was lovely to attend last year’s conference and to celebrate with the completed learners who were collecting their certificates. Well done to Barbel Gale for achieving Learner of the Year.
The qualifications are run for ADSO by SW Councils. It is a partnership which works really well and the contract with them has just been renewed by the Board for another three years which is great news for the Association and the learners! We also could not run the qualifications without the hard work and commitment of all the Assessors who support the learners by helping to plan their assignments, carrying out assessments of their work within tight timescales and providing feedback and encouragement. They are mostly experienced practitioners or recently retired DS managers who are keen to support the career development of others in the sector. We have also recruited some new Assessors from some of the learners who have recently completed their qualification. If you or any of your colleagues would be interested in becoming an Assessor, please contact Sue Crosland at SW Councils (sue.crosland@swcouncils.gov.uk) for a chat about the role.
We recently carried at an evaluation of the learners who had recently completed their qualification and received some very positive feedback, particularly on the support from SW Councils and the Assessors. Most learners found the resources helpful and felt that the structure and timings of the assignments were about right. As always, we have identified a couple of areas for improvement and have already updated the qualification handbooks and induction presentation. We are planning to review both qualifications this year and I will provide further details in future newsletters. You can find more information about the qualifications on the ADSO website: https://www.adso.co.uk/adso-training/certificate-in-democratic-services-practice/ and https://www.adso.co.uk/adso-training/diploma-in-local-democracy/
I will conclude by sharing some of the feedback from learners with you:
- I have enjoyed completing the course and despite my many (11) years of service, I have learned lots from completing it. It has reaffirmed existing knowledge and given me more confidence doing my job day to day.
- I would definitely recommend this course to others. It was very useful having a structured programme/timetable and the deadlines were about right.
- It was a great course, well managed and just the right amount of time between modules and the staff who I had contact with were extremely helpful and friendly.
- A good qualification that I’m pleased I completed.
Sue Keogh, ADSO Qualifications Manager