Outsourced provision

With thanks to John Clapton, YouthCARE

There are several kinds:

• Why duplicate accredited programs unnecessarily? Other providers might already have satisfactory courses, and you can direct students there as part of your program. (Or they might come to you.) A written arrangement will demonstrate that you have taken responsibility for provision of training and assessment, but there can be more complex matters of staff being listed as staff of both organizations and specific fee structures.
• What about free government courses? Many government departments provide courses either free or with substantial subsidy, especially to volunteers and non-profit groups. This is nearly perfect for interns who need the instruction but are assessed in other ways.
• Credit transfer is another de facto outsourcing system when students choose units from other institutions of their own will, and then ask to transfer the credit back to your course. This is not a recommended approach, because those programs might not match your requirements, and because you should offer the units anyway.

The model below is currently used for training Transactional Analysts in Australia. (With thanks to Peter Milnes.)

1. Pre-requisite: join the association as a student.
2. Sign a contract that says: I promise to do xyz
3. Do an open book exam on basic concepts.
4. You are assigned a "Principal Teaching Analyst" PTA
1. PTA negotiates requirements:
1. XX hours of training
2. Supervision
3. Professional development
4. Client contact
2. PTA becomes supervisor
3. Students pay their supervisor by the hour. If they can form a group to share the cost, they can reduce the per-hour cost for each student.
4. Students can do part of the course with another supervisor if they wish.
5. Students set up a Professional Development component with their PTA, who must approve it as contributing to the course hours.
6. Correspondence materials
5. At the end, students attend a conference, which may be anywhere in the world
6. They then take a final assessment
1. They take an exam e.g. case studies
2. they present evidence
3. Oral examination
4. Assessors make a judgement based on evidence presented.

Comments

• Define requirements as competencies.
• Use conferences: presenting and publishing papers.
• Define the assigned work required.
• Final assessment.
• This kind of arrangement would make it easier to offer a range of electives.
• Students could take up to x semester hours of electives from other universities if they wish, with prior agreement.

It might be possible to divide it up better between instructors. For example, if an institution has local supervisors (as above), it could assign students so that they get individualized attention.