ARB advances education reforms with plans to transform professional practical experience

The Architects Registration Board (ARB) has today published a comprehensive action plan to improve access to high-quality and relevant professional practical experience for future architects. This follows the recommendations made by the independent Professional Practical Experience Commission. 

Key actions include: 

• Creating a co-ordinating role for learning providers: 

ARB will work closely with learning providers and those involved in architectural education through a series of focus groups to define the detailed requirements and responsibilities of a new co-ordinating role. The role will be set out in ARB’s Standards for Learning Providers and Accreditation Handbook, and will be subject to a public consultation. 

• Introducing a standardised Record of Competency (ROC): 

ARB will set minimum requirements for evidencing practical experience which trainees will record through a new ROC. ARB will convene a reference group – comprising representatives from learning providers – to co-develop the format and implementation of this standardised record. 

ARB has previously acknowledged the Commission’s findings that too much responsibility and risk lies with trainees on their route to registration. The measures outlined in the plan are intended to enhance transparency, prioritise outcomes, and ultimately improve the trainee experience and access.

Alan Kershaw, ARB Chair said:

“Professional practical experience is central to a trainee’s journey to becoming an architect and achieving professional registration. The plan that we have set out today recognises the vital role learning providers play in shaping how aspiring architects gain the experience they need. The new co-ordinating role will need to work for all learning providers, so we’re going to design it with them to ensure it is flexible but also, crucially, effective for trainees.”

ARB’s plan for professional practical experience adopts all but one of the independent Commission’s recommendations. While ARB does not plan to mandate Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in mentoring, it acknowledges the importance of mentoring in driving the cultural change needed across the profession. ARB is actively exploring ways to support architects in developing mentoring skills. 

A detailed breakdown of the actions and timeframes is available on the ARB website. Stakeholders interested in joining focus groups or the new reference group are invited to engage via ARB’s Architectural Educators Engagement Network. 

ENDS

Notes to editors 

Useful links 

• View the detailed plan 

• View the Professional Practical Experience Commission report 

• Join the Architectural Educators Engagement Network 

About ARB 

ARB is an independent professional regulator, established by Parliament as a statutory body, through the Architects Act, in 1997. We are accountable to government.  

The law gives ARB a number of core functions:  

• To ensure only those who are suitably competent are allowed to practise as architects. We do this by approving the architecture qualifications required to join the Register of architects.  

• To maintain a publicly available Register of architects so anyone using the services of an architect can be confident that they are suitably qualified and are fit to practise.  

• To set the standards of conduct and practice the profession must meet and take action when any architect falls below the required standards of conduct or competence.  

• To set requirements for and monitor the continuous professional development that architects must undertake, to provide assurance to the public about the continuing competence of the profession.  

• To protect the legally restricted title ‘architect’.  

Media enquiries 

For more information please contact media@arb.org.uk.