9 Jul 2006 : EMCC UK QUALITY AWARD SETS NEW STANDARD

From EMCC

EMCC UK QUALITY AWARD SETS NEW STANDARD

Awards Ceremony a Milestone for Coaching and Mentoring

A new award is set to have a major impact on the coaching and mentoring industry.

The European Mentoring and Coaching Council UK’s Quality Awards have been designed to clarify the complex field of coaching and mentoring training. They are based on the most far reaching research into coaching and mentoring competencies ever undertaken.

Twelve of the major coaching and mentoring training providers that have taken part in the pilot were presented with their Quality Awards at the EMCC UK’s annual Standards Day in Oxford on Wednesday June 14.

“These awards are a major step forward for coaching and mentoring,” said Mike Hurley, who chairs the EMCC UK’s Standards Committee.

“Our profession has been expanding rapidly, but fears that untrained and under qualified practitioners are being let loose on the public have also proliferated. Now the EMCC UK has established standards for training and it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

“It means people buying coaching and mentoring services will find it far easier to understand the quality of what they are buying. It means HR and Learning Development specialists will find it easier to chose appropriate programmes for developing coaching and mentoring skills in their own managers and leaders. And they can also now develop their own programmes to industry equivalent standards and get accreditation for them.

“The awards also mean that people who want to train as coaches and mentors can be confident of the quality of the training programmes they chose and that training providers themselves can design their programmes to the respective standards and get recognition for the quality of their provision.”

EMCC UK Chair Zulfi Hussain added: "EMCC UK has put a tremendous amount of effort into getting these awards right. We hope they'll not only become a "must have" for training organisations across the UK but eventually across Europe as well."

The coaching and mentoring training providers who will be awarded their Quality Awards this Wednesday have undergone a challenging and far-reaching assessment. John Webster, chief executive of the Derbyshire-based Chief Executive’s Office, one of the organisations to have achieved the award said: “When we originally put together our Executive Coaching training course we did it to the very highest standards possible. There were no industry standards at the time and so when the EMCC announced its Quality Award scheme I thought it was the perfect way of getting people to achieve quality.“

“The assessment was as rigorous as I had hoped it would be. It really was a very healthy test, carried out with due diligence and I applaud the EMCC for what they have done.

The value of the assessment process was also stressed by Dr Elaine Cox, who leads the MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice at Oxford Brookes University, another award achiever. She said: “The EMCC Quality Award process has been very helpful to the ongoing improvement of our MA. It allowed the course team to reflect on the areas covered in our syllabus and to re-think where the emphasis should be."

Alan Rogers, executive director of London-based Management Futures, who will also be presented with a Quality Award this Wednesday, added: “I think these awards are terrific and am 100 per cent for them. I would definitely recommend them to other organisations. I think they will become an industry standard and in future, any coaching or training organisation that doesn’t have one will be conspicuous.”

There are four categories of award – Foundation, Intermediate, Practitioner and Master. These reflect the different levels of study, practical competencies and skills, theoretical knowledge and reflection that different courses offer, and are equivalent to NVQ levels 3, 4 and 5 (degree level) to postgraduate certificates, diplomas and masters degrees.

EMCC UK Standards chair Mike Hurley stressed: “The awards aren’t intended as a straightjacket to limit the content or restrict the organic growth of these programmes but to help guide buyers of services, programme developers and practitioners on the standards that should be expected within differing contexts. We expect them to evolve with the industry and will be working with stakeholders to this effect.”

He added that the EMCC UK has been liasing very closely with other organisations including The Psychologist Training Group, ENTO, CIPD, ICF, The Association for Coaches and ICM that have also been working on standards frameworks and believes all the various approaches are complimentary and will have a positive impact on the coaching and mentoring profession.

Further notes

Organisations receiving Quality Awards on June 16 are:

• Oxford Brookes University
• Sheffield Hallam University
• Professional Development Foundation
• Peter Bluckert Coaching
• Praesta Partners LLP
• Management Futures Ltd
• CIPD
• Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring
• Academy of Executive Coaching Ltd
• Tavistock Consultancy Service
• Clutterbuck Associates
• The Chief Executives’ Office

Organisations wishing to find out more about the EMCC UK Quality Award should call Lenora Jones on + 44 (0) 20 8386 5304 or enter your details below:

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