The exam is administered by IPEd’s Accreditation Board and is designed to measure an editor’s competence against the benchmark of Australian Standards for Editing Practice.
Accredited editors may use the postnominal AE.
Accreditation is valid for five years. Renewal of accreditation requires AEs to provide evidence of their continuing involvement in the profession and their participation in professional development.
Accreditation exam
The three-hour accreditation exam is based on Australian Standards for Editing Practice.
The accreditation exam is open to anyone, subject to payment of the fee. However, it is recommended that candidates have at least three or more years’ full-time editing experience or equivalent.
Exams are held every one to two years and administered concurrently in all or some of the following locations according to demand: Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The next exam is tentatively scheduled for October 2012.
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The accreditation scheme
The accreditation scheme is the result of 10 years of planning and consultation.
IPEd’s forerunner, the Council of Australian Societies of Editors, set up the Accreditation Working Group in 2001, to research assessment schemes.
IPEd established the Accreditation Board in 2005 to act on the Working Group’s recommendations.
The Board has held responsibility for developing and implementing the scheme since then, and introduced the first exam in October 2008.
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Distinguished editors
Societies of editors nominated distinguished editors to act as examiners for the 2008 and 2009 accreditation exams.
Those nominated had to be career editors who were:
- endorsed by their societies
- unanimously approved by their society’s committee
- accomplished and respected by their peers
- ethical
- active supporters of editing standards.
Several very experienced editors declined the role.
The 26 editors who accepted the nomination formed the Assessors Forum (2008–09) and were entrusted with the role of accreditation assessment in the first two years of the program.
Because they are ineligible to apply for accreditation, members of this group were granted the honorary rank of distinguished editor, or DE.
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