No chartered icing, but the new institute’s cake still smells good

So, the IPD has achieve its aim of being granted chartered status by the Privy Council. From 1 July, it will become the CIPD and members will be able to bask in a reverence usually reserved for chartered accountants and surveyors. Members will be able to order new business cards boasting MCIPD instead of plain old MIPD, and they will have the satisfaction of knowing that – in the words of the institute – it is a testament to their high standards, professionalism, and commitment to continuing professional development.

The institute also believes "having chartered status will help attract even more professionals into membership. This in turn will help to increase the range of services available to members". But some in the industry would cast doubt on the validity of the first statement and the desirability of the second.

The last few years have witnessed rumblings of discontent from the training and development community. Some feel the IPD views them as second class HR citizens and many have questioned the reluctance of the IPD’s membership structure to recognise specialists on a par with generalists.

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So it is not surprising someone has finally decided to take action. The fledgling Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL) was launched a few weeks ago from a grass-roots base consisting of a couple of dozen disenchanted professionals.

The monolithic IPD is probably not shaking in its boots at this, but, as ITOL director Jeff Brooks outlines on page 9, the new body is trying to address many of the areas of dissent that T&D professionals have voiced about the IPD. For example, ITOL’s membership criteria aim to be rigorous while still being flexible enough to admit specialists. It is also proposing to establish new qualifications reminiscent of those of the old Institute of Training and Development. ITOL is also undertaking not to set itself up in competition with its own members by running commercial training courses. Interesting.