New Practice Standards Advice note for mediation practitioners

Following a review and consultation on practice standards for the Scottish Mediation Register, a comprehensive report and new Practice Standards have been produced, these will replace the old Benchmark Standards. Both documents were approved by the Standards Board on 25th May 2011. The new Practice Standards came into effect on 1st June 2011. There will be implications for mediators in Scotland both in the short and the long term. The Scottish Mediation Network will support all members and practitioners in ensuring they understand these changes and in achieving the new Practice Standards. Timescale Some changes found in the Practice Standards will take effect immediately, while some changes will take affect over the next 12 months. In addition there are changes that will take time to develop and implement. We aim to ensure that practitioners stay informed on these changes. There are immediate changes in the areas of: Initial training requirement Sufficient experience Systems for addressing concerns Family and community mediators Ongoing changes in the areas of: Maintaining a portfolio New category of mediator There are also some longer term changes, which include: Learning and development plans Competency framework

What are the immediate changes?

The following changes will have immediate effect for all new applicants to the Scottish Mediation Register. However, all current members of the register who have paid before 1st June 2011 will be deemed as meeting this requirement for the 2011-2012 membership year. Initial training requirement The mediation training will include not less than 40 hours of tuition and roleplay, (with a minimum of 20 of these training hours spent in role play or practical exercise) including a formal assessment. The assessment should include direct observation of practice as a mediator in role play. The initial training requirement for admission to the register has been raised from 30 to 40 hours of training, maintaining the previous requirement that 50% of this time be spent in role play or practical exercise. Enabling Conflict Resolution
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Sufficient experience Admission to register now requires the completion of 2 mediations in the past 12 months and/or not less than 6 hours conducting mediations as a principle mediator in the past 12 months. Previously, admission to the register required the same number of mediations and hours, but gave the options of assistant, observer or co-mediator as eligible hours for satisfying this criteria. These will no longer be acceptable as forms of experience for satisfying entry to the Register. Systems for addressing concerns All Scottish Mediation Network Registered mediators are required to have an appropriate system for addressing concerns. In addition to the Practice Standards now required mediators to inform clients that when their own complaints handling process has been exhausted, the clients can, if they wish. Take a complaint to the Standards Board. Family and Community Mediators Following the establishment of partnership agreements with Relationships Scotland and the Scottish Community Mediation Network, responsibility for setting practice standards (including initial training) for community and family mediators are deferred to the respective organisations: Family and Community Mediators must comply with the practice standards set by Relationship Scotland for Family Mediators and the Scottish Community Mediation Network for Community Mediators. Only those mediators who were approved by Relationships Scotland or the Scottish Community Mediation Network, or who could evidence that their qualifications and practice standards were equivalent to those set by Relationships Scotland in respect of Family Mediators or the Scottish Community Mediation Network in respect of community mediators would be able to list themselves as family or community mediators on the Register. This change will not affect mediators who do not work in the fields of family or community and neighbourhood mediation.

What are the ongoing changes?

Maintaining a portfolio The new Practice Standards take a step away from self certification and require all mediators to maintain a portfolio containing the following: Initial Training Certification Log of Mediations/Mediation hours undertaken Log of CPD hours and CPD certificates Certificate of Insurance Annual Training and Development Plan These portfolios will be subject to random checks to ensure that the requirements for the register are being met. It is anticipated that approximately 10-15% of portfolios will be requested for verification. Enabling Conflict Resolution
Scottish Charity Number SC034921 Company Registered in Scotland SC258173 Registered Office: 18 York Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EP

Members of the register will be given 12 months from 1st June to begin gathering and maintaining their portfolios. As a consequence, registered mediators should expect requests for portfolios to begin 1st June 2012. New category of mediator A new category of mediator has been introduced: Advanced Mediator. The requirements for this category are higher than general admission onto the register and are as follows: Advanced Mediator requires completion of initial training and 15 and/or not less than 60 hours conducting mediations in the past 12 months as principal mediator or co-mediator in the past 12 months. The Scottish Mediation Network will not actively identify mediators who meet the standards for Advanced Mediator. Applications to be listed as an Advanced Mediator should be addressed via email to admin@scottishmediation.org.uk. You may be asked for evidence to support this application.

What are the changes in the long term?

Learning and Development Plans and a Competency Framework Each mediator should be required to produce an annual Learning and Development Plan which is tagged to the Mediators Competency Framework; and CPD hours must be linked explicitly to the learning and development outcomes in the Learning and Development Plan and to Competencies within the Mediators Competency Framework. The Standards Board have authorised the establishment of a short life working group to develop a Mediator Competency Framework. Following development and approval by the Standards Board, the Competency Framework will be used to link to an Annual Learning and Development Plans, which will seek and cover the individual needs of each mediator. The number of required CPD hours remains at a minimum of 12 hours, although the Standards Board reserves the right to review this at a later date. In order to support practitioners with these changes, the Scottish Mediation Network will continue to offer the following support: SMN will provide two types of CPD opportunities for Register Members:Share and Learn CPD opportunities where register members offer free CPD training to other register members on a share and learn basis. In these instances, SMN will only seek to recover the cost of organising the training event (teas/coffees/ lunches/venue costs/ and a minimal cost for staff time). CPD Events where SMN is paying a specialist mediator trainer to provide CPD on a cost recovery basis. In these instances SMN will only seek to recover the cost of organising the event (costs as above plus trainer fees and travel expenses). Enabling Conflict Resolution
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There are also some practical changes that whilst not reflected in the new Practice Standards, will affect members of the Register. The Find A Mediator section of the newly created website no longer displays mediators who are not on the Register. Members of the public will only be able to find the details of mediators who are paid members of the Register and who meet the Practice Standards. This is due to the availability of basic membership being removed. We still offer free membership to those in full time education or on means tested benefits. Member log-in to the website no longer permits members to access individual member information once an application for registration has been submitted. However should any changes be required, we can do so at the office. Changes can be made by emailing admin@scottishmediation.org.uk detailing the request. Please allow time for these changes to take place, administrative support in the office is on a part-time basis and membership services is only one small aspect of this role. The review and new Practice Standards also has implications for mediation training providers; a separate advice note has been produced to accompany this document. Training providers are advised to read the briefing note for training providers to ensure that they are fully informed on the developments taking place.

Enabling Conflict Resolution

Scottish Charity Number SC034921 Company Registered in Scotland SC258173 Registered Office: 18 York Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EP