Information on Governance of Accreditation.
Governance of Accreditation
IPEd Accreditation Board
IPEd’s Accreditation Board (AB) administers its accreditation scheme. AB members are volunteers who must be either an Accredited Editor (AE) or a Distinguished Editor (DE). They are usually appointed as delegates by their IPEd branch but occasionally are skills-based appointments. The chair is appointed by the AB from among its members.
Chair
Charlotte Cottier AE, ab.chair@iped-editors.org
Branch delegates
ANZ: Elizabeth Beattie AE, edanz.ab@iped-editors.org
NSW: Dr Louise Merrington AE, ednsw.ab@iped-editors.org
QLD: Charlotte Cottier AE, edqld.ab@iped-editors.org
SA: Amanda Webster AE, edsa.ab@iped-editors.org
TAS: Vacant, edtas.ab@iped-editors.org
VIC: Susan Pierotti AE, edvic.ab@iped-editors.org
WA: Dr Catherine Macdonald AE, edwa.ab@iped-editors.org
Skills-based members
Ted Briggs AE, edact.ab@iped-editors.org
Dr Linda Nix AE
IPEd Accreditation Board responsibilities
The AB is responsible for developing and administering IPEd’s accreditation exams, managing accreditation renewals and developing IPEd’s accreditation scheme.
Accreditation exams
The AB appoints an exam team to develop and administer the accreditation exam. Most of the team are volunteers. The exam team has three main sub-teams:
- A writing team of AEs and DEs who develop the exam.
- A marking team of AEs and DEs who assess candidates’ papers.
- An administration team that manages candidate registrations and invigilate the exam. All invigilators are AEs or DEs.
Everyone who has access to exam content must sign a confidentiality agreement.
Accreditation renewal
The AB administers the accreditation renewal application process for each cohort of AEs. This work involves:
- reviewing the renewal guidelines
- managing renewal applications
- appointing assessors to assess each application. Assessors must be AEs or DEs, and may be AB members.
Accreditation development
The AB continues to investigate options for advanced accreditation, which would recognise editors with superior skills, and specialist accreditation, which would recognise specialist editing skills and knowledge.
In 2019 the AB analysed the accreditation scheme. It presented its findings as a poster at the 2019 IPEd conference and in the IPEd Annual Report 2019.
IPEd Accreditation Board history
In 2001, IPEd’s forerunner, the Council of Australian Societies of Editors, set up the Accreditation Working Group to research assessment schemes.
In 2005, IPEd established the AB to act on the Accreditation Working Group’s recommendations. The AB has been responsible for developing and implementing the accreditation scheme since then.
In 2016, the AB became an IPEd standing committee reporting to the IPEd Council. The IPEd Council became the IPEd Board in November 2018, following constitutional changes.
Accreditation exam history
The AB introduced the accreditation exam in October 2008. Subsequent exams were held in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. The first five exams were written exams, on paper.
In 2011 the AB outlined options for an electronic exam in the discussion paper, Exam delivery options [DOC 28KB].
In 2016 and 2018 the exam was delivered on-screen in networked computer labs using Microsoft Word files containing macros, for all three parts. This format entailed creating two sets of exam files, one for Windows and one for Mac systems, that were specific to particular versions of Word. After investigating how to make the exam files platform-neutral, the AB changed the format for the 2020 exam to PDF forms for the Language and Knowledge parts of the exam and ordinary (i.e. no macros) Word files for the Manuscript part.
In 2020, the AB also allowed candidates unable to attend an exam venue to sit the exam remotely. At the same time, the AB investigated and evaluated ways to fast-track bringing the accreditation exam fully online. In January 2021 the AB presented a detailed report of its findings and recommendations to the IPEd Board. A summary of this report is available here [PDF 256KB].
Distinguished editors
In 2008, 26 editors were appointed to form the Assessors Forum, which was responsible for assessing candidates’ papers for the 2008 and 2009 exams. These editors, who were nominated by the societies of editors (the predecessors of IPEd branches), were professional editors who were:
- endorsed by their society
- unanimously approved by their society’s committee
- accomplished and respected by their peers
- ethical
- active supporters of editing standards.
Because they were ineligible to apply for accreditation, members of this group were granted the honorary rank of Distinguished Editor, or DE.