There are a lot of professional development courses out there, making it hard to tell which ones are legitimate. Read on to discover some valuable tips on how to tell if a course is accredited.
Whether you’re starting a career in coaching or looking to develop your profession, reaching higher levels in your work may require you to undergo professional training and achieve qualifications from accredited courses.
But despite numerous options online claiming to provide professional training, not all courses are the real deal.
With this in mind, we’ve created a simple guide on how to tell whether a course is accredited and reveal the type of prestigious bodies you can trust.
What Is an Accredited Course?
Accredited courses must conform to regulated standards and receive regulated approval, regardless of the industry or sector. These regulated standards/approvals are set and awarded by an official governing or recognized professional body.
By being accredited, the course is proven with legitimate credentials to provide all students with the necessary skills, tools, and resources to take the next step relevant to their profession. Accredited courses can involve and combine both vocational and theory-based learning, practical and academic.
In this article we are focusing on two areas of professional development, Coaching and NLP qualifications.
The two generally recognized UK Professional Bodies in these two areas are:
The Association for Coaching (AC) Coaching Qualification Standards and Professional Practice Competency and Ethical Frameworks
The Association for NLP (ANLP) NLP Qualification Standards and Professional Practice Competency and Ethical Frameworks
The Association for Coaching
As an industry-leading non-profit organisation, the Association for Coaching offers professional coaching across various styles and disciplines. The worldwide AC accreditation is based on a specific “Coaching Competency Framework” aligned with a Global Code of Ethics For Coaches, Mentors, and Supervisors.
The accreditation scheme works across five main areas:
- Coach Training Accreditation
- Coach Accreditation
- Coaching Supervisor Accreditation
- Coaching Supervision Training Accreditation
- Recognised Course Leader as Coach
All AC accreditations can be applied across various roles, including team coaching, leader, coach, and recognized accelerated pathways. Since 2002, AC has been dedicated to coaching excellence worldwide and helping raise the standards for learning across industries, education, and coaching.
The two other main professional bodies of merit that work with the AC are, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) – mostly North American with international Chapters and the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC) with an EU / Global focus. All three bodies have a working relationship to promote best practices and an agreed training standard and accreditation framework.
There are also a couple of fairly specialized membership organisations within the coaching space focusing on Executive Coaching.
The Association for NLP
Established in 1985, ANLP is a Community Interest Company (CIC) devoted to benefiting the collective community through NLP education, training, and qualifications.
ANLP works closely with accreditation organisations such as NLPtCA and UKCP. Both organisations help certify NLP credibility within psychotherapy and counselling. One other organisation involved in the wider NLP spectrum would be the AIP.
Other international bodies training programmes that are recognized by the ANLP include:
INLPTA (International NLP Trainers Association)
ITA (International Trainers Academy)
IANLP (International Association for Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
In 2020, ANLP was awarded ‘Best UK Community Interest Company’ at the UK Enterprise Awards. Their mission to enable people to live more empowered lives through NLP learning and training is developing the discipline globally through the quality and professionalism of their services, expertise, and resources.
How Can I tell the Difference Between a Legitimate Professional Body and so-called Diploma Mills?
Great question, there are a multitude of organisation online claiming to be “Professional Bodies” or Certifying Bodies” or “International Authority For Accreditation” etc. The list seems endless.
Over the 25 years of experience working in this industry I have come across all sorts of claims about accreditation and or professional membership bodies. To be fair, a “membership body” is not a professional Body, it can be simply a group of like-minded individuals that get together on a regular basis to talk about their profession, share experiences and have some form of peer support and perhaps an occasional guest speaker or some other form of CPD.
For me, to be a recognized Professional Body with any credibility it has to pass the following tests.
- Have a history of supporting the industry and its members by promoting the value of the specific professional activity, i.e., NLP or Coaching.
- Sponsor and publish research in the key area of knowledge and practice and publish a regular Journal for its members, or even the general public at large.
- Have a website with a directory that promotes its members, both individual practitioner and organisational members.
- Host conferences or other peer supported events that introduce new ideas and give members the opportunity to be a part of a like minded community.
- Promote CPD and professional ethical standards for both individual practitioner members and organisational members.
- Have recognized authority figures on the board or as advisors.
- Work with other professional bodies constructively to promote the profession.
If some or all of the above is missing, then I question the validity of any organisation calling itself a Professional or Accrediting Body.
The Benefits of Choosing an Accredited Course
Regardless of your profession or career stage, finding an accredited course has numerous benefits for your profession, including:
- It determines the course standards of quality meet regulation
- It enables organisations to offer official learning credits
- It helps employers find relevant candidates for future roles
- It generates a greater accreditation network for future learning and career development
Accredited courses will supply students with knowledge, skills, and confidence in professional qualifications while benefitting the provider and enriching the organisation they represent.
Alongside receiving a stamp of approval, students will also join a greater community and support network for learning and development in their chosen field.
How Do You Know if a Course Is Accredited?
So, if you’re looking to become a certified coach or take the next step in your career, choosing an accredited course will help you reach your goals and fulfil your potential. However, no laws prevent ‘courses’ from existing without professional accreditation or certification.
There are genuine reasons for specific courses not to have accreditation. Some university degrees for example will not have accreditation, despite the university still providing the modules within a professional academic environment. Accredited courses matter more when professional qualifications are required within the industry.
Accreditation should also apply to coaching qualifications. Likewise, if you wish to become a life coach, convincing clients to invest in your services will be easier if you have professional qualifications from accredited courses awarded by a professional organisation.
One other thing to look for, what is the course assessment process, if there isn’t one, I can guarantee its NOT accredited!
Things to Look Out For:
Accredited Courses
When searching online for a course and you find something you like, check for accreditation before you start.
For example, if you wish to become a more established Coach or NLP Practitioner, the course you find should be accompanied by an accredited award by an official organisation such as the AC or ANLP.
Finding accredited courses can also be achieved by researching the website of professional organisations in your industry and seeing what accredited courses they have listed.
Non-Accredited Courses
As mentioned, not all courses have to be accredited. While non-accredited solutions can provide certain benefits such as flexibility and cost, we’d recommend you choose something accredited, especially if you require professional qualifications.
A clear sign of non-accredited courses is they will state no awarding body within the course details. When a course is certified, it has guaranteed legitimacy, whereas some non-accredited options may function without quality standards of education and resources.
As you can imagine, people have undertaken courses claiming to offer professional training in their chosen field to have their expectations dashed and money taken. So, before you commit, be sure if you require professional qualifications.
Academic or Professional Qualification Option
It is also essential to mention that when it comes to Coach qualifications, you have two options. Professional, as we have mentioned above, the second option is Academic.
Academic Coach qualifications generally have two options, via an Awarding organisation such as the ILM (City & Guilds) or a University degree.
We have a free webinar that covers these options in a fair amount of detail, you can access this HERE.
Select an Accredited Course from an Award-Winning Provider
UKCPD is an accredited organisation renowned for offering excellent training services across personal/professional development and coaching. Our award-winning courses cover a range of disciplines with accredited ILM, AC, NLP, and professional CPD qualifications.
So, if you’re looking to reach the next stage of your career, get in touch with UKCPD today. We’d love to help you find your focus and reach your potential.
