UKIC Accreditation Working Group:
Professional Membership Assessment Criteria

 

This paper suggests two areas of developed criteria which could be used by UKIC in Accreditation. 1. In order to define the standards which candidates for the various categories of membership must meet, criteria must be made overt by UKIC. These can then be used to recognise the appropriateness, suitability, 'approvability 'etc. of the various aspects of evidence produced by the candidates. There are broadly two aspects of professional conservation practice for which UKIC wishes to define standards. One aspect is the generally clearly recognised area of Knowledge and Skill. The second is the 'softer' aspect of Professional Attitude. The first is an aspect which is routinely defined by employers, training courses etc. but the second is that which alone a professional organisation is in a position to define and impose. For Knowledge and Skill conservation is in the happy position of having already created a robust set of criteria which form part of the Occupational Standards for the Museums, Galleries and Heritage Sector. For Professional Attitude, we must start from scratch. Occupational Standards 2. The Museums, Galleries and Heritage Sector Occupational Standards were derived by the professionals across the whole field under the auspices of MTI (Museums Training Institute). The Occupational Standards comprise 57 areas of competence which describe Functions which must be carried out to allow the Sector to operate. Each Function is called a Unit e.g. 'Determine conservation plans for items' This Unit follows on from the assessment of an item/collection and covers the requirement that the relevant options for treatment are identified and the most suitable one for the context is selected. Each Unit is further broken down into a number of Elements which together describe the function to be carried out e.g. for the Unit 'Determine conservation plans for items' Element 1. Identify options available What options can be drawn up to meet needs/risks discovered during assessment? What are risks/benefits of each option? What resources are needed? etc. Element 2. Select one conservation option An option and plan is selected and agreed by all relevant parties in full knowledge of risks/benefits/resource needs etc. Each Element is then described in terms of the tasks, both practical and intellectual, it requires. The varying circumstances/problems in which these tasks must be performed are also detailed. For each Element there is a list of topics of Underpinning Knowledge which are essential if the tasks are to be enacted satisfactorily. 3. The Units which specifically describe the Functions of Conservation were devised by conservators drawn from a broad cross-section of the specialisms of conservation. As such these Units are designed to be relevant to any and every specialism. The application of ethics, record keeping, communication, H&S, etc. are embedded in all relevant Elements. 4. If UKIC were to use the Occupational Standards as a base for the criteria of Knowledge and Skill in the ways described above, decisions would have to be made as to exactly which of the 57 Units were appropriate for each particular category of membership. Those Units which describe conservation tasks involving 'complex problems' could be used for the Professional Fellowship category. Such 'problems' would include working autonomously, developing/adapting existing basic treatments, treating items of great financial value/complexity, undertaking large/lengthy projects etc. The remaining Units which describe more straight-forward conservation tasks could be used for the Professional Associate category. To use these Occupational Standards in Accreditation, UKIC would need to develop the means for linking them with the standard of a conservation course or portfolio etc. Professional Attitude 5. This is a much more difficult aspect to define than Knowledge and Skill. However, it is intuitively understood by professionals and is based upon two key attributes: self awareness and a sense of responsibility. It is both the ability to act professionally as well as the intention to do so. The criteria used to define the standards expected from both UKIC Professional Associate and Fellows could be as follows: Self awareness: constructively self-critical motivated to improve his/her practice confident in his/her skills and knowledge aware of the limitations of his/her skills and knowledge Responsibility sense towards objects sense towards colleagues and clients integrity and honesty commitment to professional practice and the profession of conservation 6. Assessment of Professional Attitude by UKIC demands a personal encounter with the candidate either directly or indirectly possibly as follows: Professional Associate: Two references: from supervisor/mentor/employer/client Professional Fellow: Two references: from employer/client/PFUKIC/Hon. Fellow UKIC Visit/interview: two Assessors at candidate's workplace. Exceptionally (e.g. in case of consultants who do not carry out or manage remedial conservation) the interview could take place at a mutually agreed location. This interview would also enable 'soft' aspects of the Occupational Standards to be checked e.g. ability to work independently on complex problems, to make independent judgements, to think creatively and open-endedly, and to contribute to the development of professional attitude in others, to communicate.

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Originally prepared in May 1997. Web version prepared by Adrian Tribe in February 1998.