Laurence Dawkins-Hall hosts Professional Registration workshop at Newcastle University

The expertise of our Specialist Advisors is a key benefit for our Partner Affiliate institutions. This week, Laurence Dawkins-Hall delivered a Professional Registration workshop to technicians at the University of Newcastle. He details his experience in our latest blog.

I recently delivered a workshop to STEM technicians at the University of Newcastle, pertaining to professional registration. This workshop was delivered in my capacity as Special Advisor to the NTDC for Professional Registration and STEM and offered to the University of Newcastle as a Partner Affiliate of the NTDC.

Specifically, the workshop was built upon an in house informal session offered at Newcastle itself, in which Richard Warhurst expounded the basic benefits and process of technicians applying for registration at the University of Newcastle. I built upon this session by expounding on the mechanics of application via the Science Council Online Application Portal, viz. CAP.

In addition, I defined and outlined examples of specific reflective practices, matching par excellence each sub competency and pointing out reference competency material within the framework of the talk to study at their leisure. I also defined key responsibilities and associated qualifications commensurate with each register, namely RSciTech, RSci and CSci. Finally, I talked about how to wordcraft ‘competent competency’ answers with such materials, in order to satisfy licensed body assessors.

By the conclusion of the talk, it should have been clear to participants that I expected them to reflect upon materials I had expounded and, in addition, study the more in-depth materials with specific examples of practices that match competencies. This should be done in order to initiate their own reports.

However, as technicians within a partner affiliate institution of the NTDC and, bearing in mind my role of Special Advisor (SA) for the NTDC on Registration and STEM, I made it clear that I would mentor their activities remotely in order to validate what they had done and polish up their efforts.

These activities, carried out by me on behalf of the NTDC, will act as a precursor to an actual visit to the University of Newcastle, in my SA advisory capacity, in order to work with these partner affiliate technicians in person, both individually and in groups, get all of them to a stage where, having departed Newcastle, they will each be able to each complete their competency forms, with confidence and with competence, in order to submit favourable registration applications via CAP.