Qualifications Committee - Vacancy for Chair

The British Psychological Society is seeking to appoint a Chartered member to act as Chair of the Qualifications Committee (QC). The successful candidate will take over the role immediately.

Role Profile

The remit of QC is to oversee the Society's Qualification Leadership Teams as follows:

  • to oversee and maintain Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) approval of all society qualifications 
  • to review and monitor the delivery of qualifications to ensure that the required standards are maintained
  • to develop and issue appropriate guidance and support for candidates
  • to propose changes in policy/regulations as appropriate
  • to monitor the quality of all existing provision 

The role of the Chair involves:

  • having overall responsibility for the efficient and effective running of QC and its business
  • overseeing and monitoring the quality assurance of society qualifications
  • setting direction to individual Qualification Leadership Teams in relation to quality assurance
  • chairing meetings of the Committee and ensuring equitable, in-depth and constructive debate on all issues
  • chairing panels on an ad-hoc basis to consider issues where QC input is required
  • represent the Committee at the Education & Training Board.
  • supporting the Qualifications Team and/or Assessment & Awards Team in responding to complaints and/or appeals in line with relevant policy
  • attending other meetings on behalf of the Committee 
  • taking Chair's action and approving correspondence and appointments between meetings, where necessary.

Person Specification

To qualify for the role, the successful candidate must have:

  1. Significant experience as a Chartered psychologist, Full membership of one of the divisions of psychology and registration with the HCPC
  2. Knowledge and understanding of the society's qualifications, including enrolment and assessment
  3. Experience of assessing at a postgraduate level in psychology 
  4. Knowledge and experience of quality assurance processes for competence-based qualifications
  5. Experience of chairing a board or committee 
  6. Experience of work involving maintaining standards on behalf of an organisation
  7. Experience of maintaining high standards on a postgraduate training programme

And possess the following personal qualities:

  1. Consultative leadership style
  2. Willingness to embrace and positively respond to change
  3. Commitment to maintaining high standards
  4. Ability to make and stand by decisions that may prove to be contentious
  5. Ability to withstand pressure
  6. Excellent communication skills
  7. Excellent organisational skills
  8. Excellent facilitation and mediation skills

Meeting Schedule

QC usually meet up to five times during the year. 

Attendance at other meetings, including those held by the Education & Training Board, to represent QC are also required. 

It is estimated that the time commitment will be approximately 10 days a year, including any face-to-face meetings.

How to apply

The deadline for submission of statement of interest forms is Friday 6 December.

Submit a statement of interest

The appointment will be fixed term and cover a period of three years, there is an option for the tenure to be extended by a further three years (maximum) if this is desired.

Please note that this is a pro bono role.

For further information please contact [email protected].

Interested parties are welcome to contact the Director of Research, Education and Practice for an informal discussion please contact Research, Education and Practice Admin Team [email protected] to arrange a meeting.