Looking for the right course can be daunting in our field, especially with courses being given so many different names and with different syllabus and criteria. Courses are a financial investment in your future so its really important you research a course thoroughly before signing up and spending your hard earned cash as they differ in quality and delivery success.
With this in mind Carol our Director of Learning and owner of CB Counsellor Training Ltd, who has many years’ experience of providing trainings, offers the following advice to try and help you when choosing courses.
It’s important to know that just because a course is accredited by an accrediting body or endorsed by a membership body (e.g. BACP or NCPS) it doesn’t mean its great quality or will continue to be of a very high standard. It means it was good enough to meet their criteria at the time it was accredited or endorsed, so here’s the questions to ask and areas to consider:
Levels
Has the course been assigned a level by an accrediting body who is Ofqual registered and nationally registered? This gives the course a nationally recognised awarding standard which employers understand and recognise.
Unfortunately, within the Counselling and Psychotherapy (C & P) profession the use of the words ‘diploma’, ‘qualification’ and ‘certificate’ in post qualifying courses are still widely used and have been decided on by the course provider and mean very little. A training individual or organisation cannot ascribe a level to their course themselves so look out for anyone who claims they have. In addition, ‘Level 5 or 6 equivalent’ means nothing legally so be wary of these claims.
Accreditation
Is the course accredited by an accrediting body? If it is this means you have an outside body, external to the organisation providing the training, to take any concerns or complaints to if you needed to. Consider who will talk to and challenge the training organisation on your behalf if the course isn’t accredited and overseen by an outside body? How will you challenge results if the course isn’t accredited? Hopefully you won’t ever need the accrediting body and everything will go well but you can’t know this when beginning a course.
Interviews
Are you invited to interview for your place on the course and is evidence of the joining criteria asked for? If interviews are not held or evidence not collected, then you have no guarantee that any vetting has occurred for the cohort, and this could lead to problems later on in the course.
Information
Does the training organisation have a clear and detailed website? Do you know the content of the course (the syllabus) before you begin the course. Do you know the criteria you are expected to pass to complete the course and the criteria you need to reach to join the course?
Endorsement
If the course has been endorsed by a professional membership body does the body keep checking the course annually? Do they ask for any evidence or automatically renew the endorsement yearly upon payment from the training organisation? What guarantee of quality does the endorsement offer? Do they quality assure the courses they have endorsed?
Number of Learners per cohort
Anything over 12-14 per cohort may leave you feeling ‘just a number’ and not an important member of the cohort which can in turn make it harder to learn and to be seen and known within your cohort or to feel you are supported and encouraged to succeed, especially if the course is on-line.
How many learners does the organisation have per annum and do they have the capacity to hold an ad hoc meeting with you quickly (within a week) if you have a concern? Are queries answered clearly and quickly?
Curriculums
Who wrote the curriculum? Who has decided its good enough? How often is it updated? Does it follow the professional membership bodies’ suggested curriculums, competencies and standards?
Policies
Does the organisation/trainer provide you with their policy documents? This should be a comprehensive (quite large!) document that covers all of the policies covering the course. Always a very dry read! Such an important document though as it clearly states the training provider’s policies which will be followed if there is a problem. Be wary of any training that cannot provide this document for you. Policies included should at least be the following:
Privacy and Data Protection
Equality and Diversity
Safeguarding
Code of Conduct and Disciplinary policy
Complaints policy
Assessment policy
Moderation policy
Malpractice policy
Tutorials
Does the training provide individual tutorials outside of the training days? Duration? Are they included in the price of the course? Are they longer for those with an ILP?
Reasonable adjustments and Independent Learning Plans (ILP)
Is the course/training organisation inclusive? What reasonable adjustments are offered to students who may struggle with the written word? Are you offered an ILP automatically if you have a diagnosed condition or disability. What does the ILP offer? e.g. does the ILP give you longer individual tutorial time? Does it cover what would happen if writing assignments /essays is very difficult for you? is there a policy to cover assessment and alternative for learners with additional needs?
Response time to enquiries
How reactive is the organisation? How quickly do the admin team respond to you? Is it easy to access the correct person you wish to speak with?
The Tutors
Ensure the tutors have years of experience within different settings and regularly work in the area of the course e.g. does the tutor work with CYP? How many tutors are there per training day? If only one what happens if they have an emergency or are ill? Having two tutors can mean they learn even more from each other, and the course continues to improve. They can also challenge one another and continually quality assure the course amongst themselves, making suggestions and offering new ideas.
Course and tutor management/Quality Assurance
Is there a director or line manager available to you if needed? Who is quality assuring the course and monitoring the tutors’ work and how often? Indeed, is the course ever quality assured? If you have a concern about a tutor who can you speak to? As above, are there policies to cover difficulties. Is the organisation offering the training just one person? Does this feel sufficient to you ?
Quality Assurance is so important to pick up on small or large areas of improvement or concern. It also ensures tutors do not become complacent so it should be happening continually throughout the year across the organisation.
Marking and moderation
It’s important that marking is standardised and provided on an official marking sheet from the accrediting body.
It is important to ensure that the cohorts’ work is internally and externally moderated to ensure consistency and a high level of marking which is supportive and offers suggestions for any resubmissions.
Hidden costs
Ask if there are any additional costs at interview. The organisation should be open in their course guide (which you should receive before the training starts) and /or policies about any additional costs.
Placements and practice hours
Be wary of courses that don’t ask you for practice and supervision hours and don’t check that your supervisor is suitably qualified and experienced. Also be wary of courses that allow you to qualify too quickly with a small number of practice hours as this may not be ethical or supportive of your move into new clinical work.
Equality, Diversity and inclusion
It is imperative that EDI is weaved through any C & P Course otherwise the training is not inclusive and may continue to perpetuate and allow outdated blind spots or microaggressions. Is EDI covered throughout or just resigned to one day of the course? Does the tutor understand and challenge any unconscious bias? Do they understand microaggressions and microinsults? Is the training an inclusive, safe environment for all counsellors, regardless of their sexuality, gender, neurodiversity, colour, culture etc etc?
How established is the course
How many previous cohorts have there been and how many years has it been running? How well established is it? What is the retention rate across the course?
How popular is the course? How many testimonials are there? Could you make contact with a previous learner to hear about their experience if you wished to?
We really hope this guidance helps and we are pleased to say we provide every one of these course criteria so you can have piece of mind if you decide to interview for our courses. If you would like any further information, please just ask.
Happy Learning!
Carol Belsey
Director of Learning