News story

The British Institute for Learning & Development aligns membership to the TAP L&D Qualifications Framework

Learning NewsThe Training Foundation

The British Institute for Learning & Development, the Awarding Body for all Certificates and Diplomas issued under the Training Accreditation Programme (TAP®), has announced that from 1st Oct 2015 all applicants for professional grades of BILD membership will be required to hold a TAP Qualification.

The British Institute for Learning & Development, the Awarding Body for all Certificates and Diplomas issued under the Training Accreditation Programme (TAP°), has announced that from 1st Oct 2015 all applicants for professional grades of BILD membership will be required to hold a TAP Qualification.

Commenting on this policy adjustment, BILD Chair David Apparicio said: “The BILD has long been driven by the aspiration to see a career in L&D recognised as a genuine ‘Profession’.  Today, the critical capability demanded of every organisation is the capacity to learn and change faster than the competition, to become a genuine ‘learning organisation’. This makes the professionalising of learning a more urgent imperative than ever before.’

‘The BILD believes that, as with all other recognised professions, L&D practitioners should be required to meet a common standard of professional practice, evidenced by appropriate Certification.  Until recent years, this has not been possible to achieve, given the wide range of subjective certification schemes available.  Membership of the BILD, therefore, as with other L&D Institutes, was open to applicants holding a disparate range of qualifications. This of course meant that the BILD post-nominal letters could not guarantee consistent and reliable professional practice’.

‘With the advent of the Training Accreditation Programme in 1998 the seeds were planted for the genuine professionalising of an L&D career.  For the first time, objective assessable models (recognised by a Queen’s Award for Innovation) underpinned all L&D roles, enabling consistent standards of professional practice.’

‘The Board of the BILD has observed first-hand the widespread, employer-led adoption of TAP in recent years, with some 1,400 organisations across all strands of the private and public sectors now employing more than 25,000 Certified L&D professionals.  We have concluded that this groundswell of commitment to best-practice standards now enables the Institute to progress its key objective of professionalising a career in L&D.  By requiring all applicants for BILD membership from 1st Oct 2015 to hold a TAP Certificate or Diploma, the BILD post-nominal letters will become a guarantee of best-practice.”

Nick Mitchell, CEO of The Training Foundation commented; “This forward-thinking announcement demonstrates the BILD’s passionate commitment to truly making Learning & Development a genuine profession. The whole 30-strong TAP team at The Training Foundation shares that passion. These are indeed exciting times for the whole training community and I encourage all to join the BILD and help us achieve our common objective.”

ENDS 

About the British Institute for Learning & Development

The British Institute for Learning & Development began life in 1990 as the Open Learning Association, later becoming the British Association for Open Learning. In 2007 it became the British Institute for Learning & Development. The BILD is the UK’s only professional body dedicated to representing learning and development professionals, its watchword to members is “Be Excellent; Be Recognised”. To enquire about membership email rwootten@thebild.org or call 0844 5762 995, www.thebild.org.