The Accreditation Board of the Institute of Professional Editors Ltd (IPEd) seeks applications from individuals and parties interested in developing the first national exam for Australian editors, to be held on 25 or 26 July 2008 (exact date to be confirmed). The following positions on the exam development team are available:

• Lead Writer/Developer (1)
• Reviewers (3).

The following brief sets out in detail the services required, the key criteria by which applicants will be assessed, the fee to be paid for each position, and instructions on how to submit applications. The deadline for applications is 5 pm, Wednesday 19 March 2008. A decision will be made by 31 March 2008, leaving at least two full months for exam development and an additional month for trial testing, timing, proofing and printing.

The Board will also be advertising the position of Exam Coordinator and will shortly be releasing a brief and call for applications.

Accreditation Board

Institute of Professional Editors Ltd

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The Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) has initiated the development of an accreditation scheme for Australian editors. The scheme will be two-tiered, providing for accreditation at a level of competence (Accredited Editor) and at a senior level (Advanced Accredited Editor).

Consultation with members of the Australian societies of editors has played an important role in the development of the accreditation scheme ever since IPEd (then CASE) first began working towards that goal. Between September and December 2007, workshops were held around the country to consider and discuss the sample accreditation examination. Editors gave a great deal of thought to the assessment content, the weighting of components, how candidates would approach the exam, and the way the exam would be conducted. Many editors tested themselves by attempting the sample exam and were able to offer especially valuable feedback. Aspects of this feedback have been important in formulating the brief to an exam development team.

This brief sets out the requirements for development of an accreditation exam to be held on 25 or 26 July 2008 (date to be confirmed). While this exam will be a handwritten one, the Accreditation Board is currently investigating the feasibility of computer-based and/or online delivery options for future exams. Delivery of the exam will be coordinated nationally by the Exam Coordinator.

The key aspects of the brief are set out on the following pages, and cover:

• establishment of the exam development team (composition and roles)
• detailed specifications for development of the exam, answer sheet and marking scheme
• timeline
• confidentiality
• remuneration and contractual terms and conditions
• how to apply.

Further information may be obtained by contacting Karen Disney, Chair of the IPEd Accreditation Board, on 08 8363 3279 (h) or email karen.disney@kbr.com [1].

1    Establishment of an exam development team

The exam development team will consist of one Lead Writer/Developer, three Reviewers and one Proofreader/Timekeeper. Individuals who meet the selection criteria and wish to be considered for appointment to the exam development team must apply to the Accreditation Board by the closing date.

Lead Writer/Developer

The Lead Writer/Developer will assume primary responsibility for the development and delivery of the exam paper, answer sheet and marking scheme by the agreed date. The Lead Writer/Developer will be required to liaise with the Reviewers, the Proofreader/Timekeeper and the Exam Coordinator.

Key selection criteria

• Demonstrated experience and expertise in exam development and delivery
• At least five years' experience in editing for publication
• Ability to lead and manage a team of independent consultants
• Exceptional communication skills
• In-depth knowledge of editing and publishing processes
• A working knowledge of Australian Standards for Editing Practice (CASE (now IPEd), 2001)

Desirable

• Experience in development and testing of editing coursework
• Knowledge of web-based and computer-based editing processes
• Confidence in presenting complex information to a specialist audience (assessors)

Reviewers

The three Reviewers will be responsible for refining the exam, providing input and support as briefed by the Lead Writer/ Developer, testing the answer sheet and marking scheme, and ensuring that the exam can be completed within the three-hour timeframe, with time for reviewing. The Reviewers will be required to liaise with the Lead Writer/ Developer and the Exam Coordinator.

Key selection criteria

• At least five years' experience in editing for publication
• In-depth knowledge of editing and publishing processes
• A working knowledge of Australian Standards for Editing Practice
• Ability to work as part of a team, to strict deadlines and within a fixed budget
• Excellent communication skills

Desirable

• Experience in editing coursework presentation, teaching and/or testing

Proofreader/Timekeeper [position filled]

The Proofreader/Timekeeper will play a critical role in helping to ensure the exam paper meets the requirements of the Accreditation Board. The proofreading task requires the person to read the exam paper ‘blind' and alert the exam development team to any inaccuracies or infelicities that may creep into the paper during development. The timekeeping task is separate from the proofreading task, and requires the person to ‘sit' the exam in order to double-check that candidates will be able to complete the exam within the allotted three hours. The Proofreader/Timekeeper will be required to liaise with the Leader Writer/Developer and the Exam Coordinator.

Key selection criteria

• At least five years' experience in editing and proofreading
• A working knowledge of editing style guides and proofreading mark-up
• A working knowledge of Australian Standards for Editing Practice
• Ability to work to strict deadlines

2    Specifications for development of the exam, answer sheet and marking scheme

The Lead Writer/Developer will lead the exam development team to deliver the accreditation exam paper, answer sheet and marking scheme by the agreed date.

The accreditation exam will be a test of candidates' competence-rather than excellence-in applying Australian Standards for Editing Practice. The exam will be designed for editors with the two to three years' editing experience, or equivalent. The Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (Wiley, 6th edn) will be the assumed style guide for the exam; however, candidates may nominate, and use, another authority if they feel it is necessary (stating their reasons). The assessors' primary concern will be consistency.

All assessors will be asked to contribute suggestions for Part 1 of the exam and questions or scenarios suitable for Part 3, in order to increase the variety of assessment options. These questions will form part of an exam question database, to be made available to the exam development team each time a new exam is developed. The exam development team may choose to use the exam question database, or may choose to develop the exam independent of the database.

Exam duration

Candidates will be given 15 minutes' reading time before the exam begins, during which no writing will be allowed. The exam itself is to be three hours in duration. It is expected that candidates should have ample time for checking their work within the three-hour exam period.

Exam structure, weighting of marks

Part 1 will be worth 20 per cent, and will include some multiple-choice questions.

Part 2 will be worth 40 per cent, and will consist of one passage for editing.

Part 3 will be worth 40 per cent, and will require candidates to answer four questions from a choice of 12.

Exam content
All assessors will be asked to contribute suggestions for Part 1 of the exam and questions or scenarios suitable for Part 3, in order to increase the variety of assessment options. These questions will form part of an exam question database, to be made available to the exam development team each time a new exam is developed. The exam development team may choose to use the exam question database, or may choose to develop the exam independent of the database.
Feedback on the sample exam has been considered by the Accreditation Board and a series of resolutions passed on the content and approach to exam development. These resolutions must be adhered to in the development of the exam; some are included below-for the full list of resolutions on the exam, see Appendix A.

Part 1

This section of the exam will be worth 20 per cent of the total mark. Multiple-choice questions will be included (up to 15 per cent of the total mark). Questions will seek to test candidates' competence in copy-editing, for grammar, syntax, punctuation and spelling. The focus of questions will be on correcting errors rather than on rewriting the sentences.

Part 2

This section of the exam will comprise one compulsory passage for editing, worth 40 per cent of the total mark. The passage will be considerably shorter than the one provided in the sample exam; that is, approximately 1000-1200 words in length. The passage will not require any specialist knowledge of the subject or genre and, while facts do not have to be checked, candidates should flag any contradictory or unlikely facts to the author or client.

The focus will be on copy-editing, with minimal structural editing required, and candidates will be given explicit instructions on what they are expected to do. Instructions will include sufficient background information to ensure candidates are able to complete the task without undue ‘guesswork'-background information should include who is publishing the text, in what format and for which audience/market, as well as whom the editor is working for and what her/his role is. The passage will require candidates to grade headings and deal (editorially) with illustrations and break-outs.

The passage will be presented double-spaced and in a reasonably large font. (Scribble paper will be provided, and candidates may use pencils and erasers when editing.)

Part 3

This section of the exam will provide 12 questions, of which candidates must choose four, each worth 10 per cent of the total mark (that is, Part 3 will be worth 40 per cent of the total mark). Eight of the questions offered will be general in nature, testing skills and areas of publishing and editing knowledge that would be expected of editors working in any genre. The remaining four questions will be more specialised-for example, related to mathematics, science, medical science, education, online/web-based content, literary fiction, biography, government or corporate publications, or any other genre of publishing-but the nature of the specialties offered will vary from exam to exam.

All questions in Part 3 will be of roughly equal difficulty. Questions will be open-ended; for example, a question may instruct the candidates to ‘Explain what you would do. Write down your conversation, email or other communication strategy'.

Answer sheet/marking scheme

The exam paper must be accompanied by a corresponding answer sheet and marking guide that have been tested (by the Reviewers) against the exam itself. The marking scheme will provide a clear guide on how marks can be allocated, and a separate marking sheet so that assessors do not have to mark directly onto the exam papers (in case papers have to be re-marked).

Assessment/marking

The marking of exam papers will be managed by the Exam Coordinator. Assessors will be required to attend a briefing and moderation weekend to discuss a range of acceptable answers to exam questions, in order to ensure that the approach to marking is fair and consistent. This briefing and moderation weekend will be facilitated by the Lead Writer/Developer, with support from the Reviewers and the Exam Coordinator.

The exam will be scored either Pass or Fail. The pass mark will be 80 per cent of the total number of marks available in the exam. Since the exam is a test of competence (not excellence) in applying Australian Standards for Editing Practice, the Accreditation Board expects that a competent editor with two to three years' experience, or equivalent, will score well above the pass mark.

3    Timeline

The following schedule is indicative of what the Accreditation Board wishes to achieve. Firm deadlines will be agreed upon at the signing of the contracts.

6 March            Call for applications/proposals for exam development team

19 March           Deadline for submissions for exam development team positions, by close of business

26 March           Announce exam date

28 March           Appoint Exam Coordinator

31 March           Appoint exam development team

April-May         Develop and review exam paper, answer sheet and marking scheme

mid-June           Proofread exam paper and answer sheet, and time exam paper

30 June             Print exam

18 July              Distribute exam

25/26 July         Hold exam [exact date to be confirmed]

8-10 August:     Brief assessors and moderate marking scheme

4    Confidentiality

It is envisaged that only six individuals will be privy to the exam paper during its development: the four members of the exam development team, the Proofreader/Timekeeper and the Exam Coordinator. It must be stressed that, once appointed, the exam development team must treat all aspects of the exam development as strictly confidential. If at any time this confidentiality is breached, or is at risk of breach, the team member/s are required to inform the Exam Coordinator as soon as possible.

Immediately prior to the exam, during the exam and after the exam, the exam papers will be handled by the lead invigilator at each exam venue, in consultation with the Exam Coordinator. Candidates will not be able to access their exam papers after they have handed them in (further discussion of this point will be included in ‘Guidelines for Appeals', in the Accreditation Scheme Procedures Manual, 2008, due for release in mid-April 2008).

5    Remuneration and contractual terms and conditions

Remuneration for the exam development team is offered as a single, one-off fee, as follows:

• Lead Writer/Developer $2500.00
• Reviewers $1000.00 each
• Proofreader/Timekeeper [services donated to first exam by Ms Janice Bird]

Please note that these fees do not include GST.

The remuneration for each position includes provision for all expenses, fees, overheads and outgoings related to the brief for that position. Since the accreditation scheme is being organised on a limited budget, no further consideration for additional payment is able to be entertained.

For the briefing and moderation weekend, travel, accommodation, meals and incidentals for the exam development team will be arranged by the Accreditation Board-or reimbursed upon presentation of receipts (however, all expenses must be approved by the Exam Coordinator prior to the expense being incurred).

Contractual terms and conditions

Each member of the exam development team will be required to sign a contract setting out the terms and conditions of his or her engagement on the project. The contract does not establish an employer-employee relationship, and it does not in any way signify a promise of additional or future work or employment, including engagement to develop any future exams.

Copyright in the exam, answer sheet, marking guide, exam question database and guidelines/briefing papers will be retained by the Accreditation Board, on behalf of the Institute of Professional Editors Ltd.

6    Applications

Interested parties with relevant experience and expertise are invited to submit a proposal for development of the exam, based on this brief.

Applications should include:

• covering letter
• current CV, including contact details for two referees
• Proposal [Lead Writer/Developer]-how you propose to approach the development of the first IPEd accreditation exam
• Proposal [Reviewers]-the knowledge and expertise you would bring to the position.

All proposals should address the selection criteria specified for the position for which you are applying.

If you are considering putting in a team application, please note that your application must address the requirements and selection criteria for each team member (that is, a CV and proposal for each position on the team, except the Proofreader/ Timekeeper).

Applications, by email or post, should reach the following address by 5.00 pm, Wednesday 19 March 2008:

Ms Karen Disney
Chair, IPED Accreditation Board
12 Appelbee Crescent
Norwood SA 5067
Email: karen.disney@kbr.com [2]

Annex A: Accreditation Board Resolutions [2]