Entry standards update

By Lucy Pickford

Lucy is the LI Membership Marketing Manager and a former landscape architect

Overview The Landscape Institute has been working towards some very significant changes over the last few years, and part of this has been the development of a new Competency Framework and entry standards to membership.

As the professional body for landscape architects, planners and managers, it is the LI’s role to continually reflect the changing needs of practitioners, helping them remain trusted, relevant and successful, today and in the future. It is with these aims in mind that the LI embarked on the review of entry standards.

The focus has been on the revision of routes into the profession, the membership grades available, and most importantly, the standards against which professionals are measured. Not only will it put us in a stronger place as an organisation and help us to broaden the profession whilst maintaining and strengthening traditional fields of practice, it will also bring us in line with other chartered membership bodies and provide us with a flexible framework that can grow and adapt to suit the needs of the profession.

The history behind entry standards This important body of work began back in 2017 as part of a 5-year strategy to renew and reinvigorate the way the LI operates, supports its members and deliver better inclusivity and diversity of access to the profession.

After a period of research, the LI began working with the sector to develop a competency framework that reflected current and emerging areas of landscape practice. It was the first major update to our entry requirements in over a decade, and the framework would underpin the routes to membership and replace the LI Elements and Areas of Practice document and the P2C syllabus.

Before we did anything, we needed to understand the current state of the industry and what changes had to be made in order to tackle any issues that we collectively faced. This took the form of the ‘The State of Landscape’ practice review and the Education Review in 2017. These sought to help us understand the challenges faced by the industry, but most importantly, join the dots between education providers, employers and other professional bodies that sit alongside ours. The ‘Future State of Landscape’ report was published in 2018, collating the results of this research and setting out the key areas that we needed to focus on.

A united approach We endeavoured to engage with as broad a range of stakeholders as possible, whilst not forgetting our core. As part of the process, we’ve undertaken consultations, surveys, workshops, established steering groups and more. In particular, in 2019, we established an Entry Standards Steering Group and recruited a team of Technical Authors. From here we received approval by the membership for a new Technician grade of membership and board approval of the competency framework for consultation.

At this point we were keen to share the final result of the collaborative work, and in 2020 the framework and new entry standards went out to public consultation. The culmination of this work came with the publication of the framework at the end of 2020, and it was time to move on to the next stage.

What does it mean for you?

1. You will begin to see the competency framework underpinning all LI activity over the next few years. Initially, application of the framework will be piloted during 2021, with results being reviewed before a wider roll out. It will become the basis for entry for all corporate membership grades, and

will eventually replace our current LI Elements and Areas of Practice document and the P2C syllabus.

2. For most of our members, this work won’t have a direct impact on your membership status. If you’re already on your P2C then you don’t need to worry about changing your approach. Instead, it is the beginning of a gradual implementation of the framework for new member enrolments.

3. We have already adopted the framework as the basis for recording CPD activity in our recently launched LI CPD recording system, and the competencies will be used as a way of categorising the level and topics available in our CPD events programme. It will also begin to inform how we frame our policy and technical work, and it will shape our communications moving forward.

4. Moreover, it will open up the routes to entry to the profession. The first cohort of students on the new Level 3 Apprenticeship are starting this spring and Level 7 Apprenticeships

have been approved and are awaiting funding allocation. These new routes will sit alongside our existing accredited courses, providing a wider range of access to the industry.

5. The new Technician Grade of membership will offer a home for landscape practitioners across a wide range of fields of practice, from landscape designers to parks managers. By measuring skills for these grades against the new standards, we can enable the sector to be at the forefront of the fight against climate change and act as guardians of the natural and built environment. A full overview of progress on the revision of entry standards and the details of the framework are on our website: https://www. landscapeinstitute.org/education/ introducing-the-new-entry-standardsand-competency-framework

The LI’s new publication ‘Landscape for 2030’ establishes landscape as a leader in the fight against climate change.

Download a copy https://www.landscapeinstitute.org/news/ new-publication-landscape-2030/.