LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

The mission of Learning and Development is to provide financial services practitioners with relevant quality education to better serve their clients. We do this through the delivery of our designation and certificate programs as well as advanced learning content through the continuing education platform.

2022 was a highly active period within the Learning and Development area, focused on infrastructure, program delivery and program development.

Infrastructure

Continuing education modules, designation and certificate education programs were centralized within our secure online education hub, the Advocis Learning Environment (ALE). The learner population size is significant within the ALE hub, with more than 8,000 users at the end of 2022.

A centralized infrastructure provided the opportunity to develop and increase learner engagement and retention and to support their professional development goals and pathways.

Delivery

Research indicated a significant growth in 2022 for online learning adoption within our industry, with more candidates looking for faster and more engaging courses delivered to provide more learning choices, faster time to program completion, lower cost and the ability to “fit” new ways of working into a modern work environment in the aftermath of COVID-19. As such, eLearning is working to redevelop key aspects of our learning management system to fully align with the needs of our clients.

A key improvement in 2022 focused on the integration of powerful new reporting and analytic tools to provide key insights on learner progress through Advocis education programs, and promoting improvements to engage learners in meaningful ways to successfully complete their courses. Work has also been undertaken to build out client-facing reporting, with the development of new data portals for delivery to all key corporate clients.

In 2022, Learning and Development undertook an in-depth review of how students who were registered in the Life Licensing Qualifying Program progressed through the course. This review identified key areas for improvement and resulted in the data-driven redesign of the online program where we addressed identified gaps (engagement, content depth/ structure, marketability) and emerging needs. Moving forward, this analysis will continue, helping to guide the design, delivery, and rollout of Advocis education programs.

Licensing and Credentials

Advocis offers a strong licensing and credentials platform providing curriculum programs for five designation programs, four certificate programs and a robust study support program as a Canada-wide approved course provider for the Life Licensing Qualification Program. From career entry to advanced financial planning and specialized practices, these diverse program offerings provide the knowledge, skills and practice behaviours necessary for financial advisors and planners to perform competently and ethically.

Life License Qualification Program (LLQP)

In 2022, the Advocis Life Licensing Qualification Program continued to show strong enrolment growth. Candidates who completed the Advocis LLQP, experienced high first-time pass rates on the provincial examinations, ranking 1st or 2nd across all national approved course providers. Additionally, Learning and Development implemented considerable changes to the Advocis Learning Environment (ALE) to improve engagement for self-study candidates.

Title Protection

The focus in 2022 for credential programs was on title protection with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRAO). The Professional Financial Advisor (PFA®) and the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®) were recognized by the regulator as approved credentials for the purposes of title protection. The PFA was approved for the Financial Advisor title and the CLU was approved for the Financial Planner title.

Mandatory continuing education programs were also developed for existing PFA and CLU credential holders to level set the critical competencies of each credential. Consumers can be assured that all PFA and CLU credential holders meet the minimum criteria for either the Financial Advisor or Financial Planner titles.

New Credential Program Development: Life Insurance Professional Certificate (LIPC™)

In 2022, Advocis began the development of a new program to build upon the Life Licensing Qualification Program: The Life Insurance Professional Certificate (LIPC). Although the program is in its final stages of development, it is expected that holders of this certificate will be able to use the title Financial Advisor in Ontario.

Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®)

In 2022, the CLU underwent a review of its curriculum program. As a result, plans were developed to refresh the Advanced Concepts in Tax and Law for Personal Planning course and the Tax & Legal Principles for Businesses and their Owners course. Work will be initiated in 2023.

The CLU final exams were held in May and November with a 75% and 91% pass rate respectively.

Developing resources for CLU study groups through Chapters was a top priority. Learning and Development produced facilitator guides and study tools to support the study groups. As a result, growth in offering Chapter CLU study groups has increased substantially in 2022, reflecting rising interest in the credential.

Professional Financial Advisor (PFA™)

In 2022, the PFA education program evolved the semester and self-study program into one format. This provided all candidates with access to live and recorded facilitation, outreach, and more flexible study schedules suited to the advisors building their practices.

The PFA was also reviewed, with a focus on candidate engagement within the program as well as successful study completion. In 2022, the review resulted in an initiative to improve the candidate experience and encouraging earlier, successful completion by streamlining the curriculum and highlighting essential vs. good-to-know content.

The majority of this significant effort was completed by the end of the year, with the expectation that the remaining content will be completed in 2023.

The PFA final comprehensive exams were held in May and November with a 83% and 82% pass rate, respectively.

Certified Health Insurance Specialist (CHS™)

As part of a multi-stage program update and redevelopment initiative, a key curriculum component of the CHS program, the Group Benefits Plan Management textbook, was prioritized for 2021 and published in 2022. This textbook edition contained content updates and introduced new content, as well as re-organized program material. New assessments are planned for 2023.

Curriculum redevelopment and updates to complete the rest of the CHS program will continue in 2023.