Becoming A Provider of Training Excellence

We're currently working towards the Provider of Training Excellence accreditation from the Professional Development Consortium (which is connected to the CPD Standards Office). It's an independent assessment of how we run our courses, and we think it matters.

What They Assess

The accreditation assesses four areas: our organisation's presence, the impact of our teaching on students, the classes we offer, and our commitment to maintaining standards. They look at course content, teaching methods, how feedback is gathered, and whether learners actually benefit from what you're offering. It's not something you can buy or claim. It requires genuine assessment.

Why We're Pursuing It

When you're choosing where to learn woodturning, you're trusting someone with your time, your money, and your confidence. A bad learning experience can convince someone they're not suited to a craft, when really the teaching was possibly just poor.

External accreditation gives you something independent to point to. It verifies that courses are well-structured, developed from trusted resources, and consistently deliver positive outcomes for students. It's not just us saying we're good at this. It's someone else checking our work.

The Work Involved

Preparing for this accreditation has pushed us to formalise what we do well and improve what we could do better. We've restructured courses, developed take-home materials including refresher videos, documented our teaching methods, and created proper systems for gathering and responding to feedback. None of it is particularly glamorous, but it's the foundation that makes good teaching consistent rather than accidental.

We'll share more once the assessment is complete. In the meantime, the process itself has been valuable. Sometimes the journey sharpens the destination.