What accreditation is
When we accredit an activity, we are recording that we assessed it against the Standards on a given date and found that it met them. The accreditation names the activity, the provider, the accreditation period, and the edition of the Standards used.
Because accreditation attaches to the activity, a provider can hold accreditation for one course and not another. That is deliberate: it stops an organisation wide badge being used to imply that everything it sells has been reviewed.
What can be accredited
- Taught courses, whether in person, live online or blended.
- Conferences, seminars and workshops, including individual sessions within a programme.
- Self paced e learning modules and structured digital programmes.
- Structured reading, podcast or case study programmes with a defined assessment element.
- In house training that an employer delivers to its own staff.
What cannot be accredited
- Activities whose main purpose is to promote a product or service. Sponsored content can be accredited, but only where the sponsor does not determine the content.
- Regulated qualifications. These sit with awarding organisations and their regulators, not with us.
- Membership itself. We accredit learning activities, not the fact of belonging to an organisation.
- Activities with no assessable learning outcomes, such as networking events or unstructured attendance at an exhibition.
What you receive
- An assessment report setting out the outcome against each domain of the Standards.
- An accreditation reference unique to the activity.
- An entry on the public register for the accreditation period.
- A licence to use the accreditation mark on that activity, in the form set out under using the accreditation mark.
What it commits you to
Holding an accreditation is an ongoing commitment, not a one off assessment. You agree to:
- report material changes to the activity before you deliver the changed version, as set out under annual review and renewal;
- keep the learner records the Standards require, and produce them on request;
- use the mark and reference only on the accredited activity, and only in the approved form;
- complete the annual review within the published window.
Where these commitments are not met, an accreditation can be suspended or withdrawn and the register entry updated to say so.