Changes to requirements from Round 1, February 2025 onwards.
Following an APC Review Survey in April and May 2023, stakeholders have shared that the Reflective Journal component of the application is one of the biggest barriers to candidates wanting to apply. Therefore, the requirement for L-APC and A-APC candidates to include a Reflective Journal as part of their APC submission has been temporarily suspended.
This change will be introduced from Round 1, February 2025, in order to give candidates six months’ notice and prevent any candidate from being disadvantaged as a result of this change.
The change will affect L-APC and A-APC candidates only. There was never a requirement for EP-APC candidates to write a Reflective Journal, so there is no change. Degree Apprenticeship candidates are still required to submit a Reflective Journal twice, once when they go through Gateway in preparation for undergoing the Professional Discussion, and also as part of the DA-APC written submission.
In our engagement with stakeholders, including candidates, assessors and employers, we have heard that the requirement to write a Reflective Journal is an impediment to candidates wanting to apply for Chartered membership. Candidates are aware that the Reflective Journal is not formally assessed, therefore many question the need for them to complete one.
One of the biggest barriers to candidates undergoing the APC is the time commitment to complete the Reflective Journal. By removing this barrier, we hope that more candidates will be encouraged to apply.
No candidate will be disadvantaged by this change. If you have already begun work on your Reflective Journal, we encourage you to continue taking advantage of this tool and include it in your application if you wish. Although the Reflective Journal will not be a mandatory requirement, it is a key part of the period of structured learning and we will continue to encourage candidates to maintain a Reflective Journal, as it will assist them in identifying case studies for their PCS and is likely to help many candidates develop a stronger submission.
If you would like more information about the role of the Reflective Journal as part of an APC submission, and for help writing yours, please see the main guidance document and Resource Centre documents for the L-APC, A-APC and DA-APC guidance. As part of the Resource Centre, there is an Advice Note giving advice on how to write a Reflective Journal, as well as a Reflective Journal template.
This change is part of an ongoing effort to understand how we can improve candidates’ APC experience and respond effectively to your feedback. In 2025, we will also be streamlining the application process for candidates with our ‘online membership applications’ project. This will mean that you will submit all your documents and written submission in one place and save your application online as you progress. In the case of any future changes, a minimum of six months’ notice period will be given. A wider review of the current APC process is being considered as part of theEducation for Everyone (EFE) review. No further changes will take place in 2025.
This change only affects people applying for Chartered status through the L-APC and A-APC routes. Candidates are still required to submit a Reflective Journal for the Degree Apprenticeship route. Writing a Reflective Journal for the EP-APC was never a requirement, so there is no change.
For the Degree Apprenticeship, candidates have to submit the Reflective Journal twice, once when they go through Gateway and once as part of their written DA-APC submission.
We have listened to what candidates, employers, assessors and other stakeholders have said when we conducted the APC Review survey in 2023. A key finding of that survey was that the Reflective Journal was one of the biggest barriers for candidates applying for Chartered membership, due to the time commitment. There was also anecdotal evidence of candidates “backfilling” their Reflective Journal, rather than logging their work experience at the time they gained it. This has the effect of undermining the purpose of the Reflective Journal, which is to be a reflective tool to help candidates choose appropriate examples of work to form case studies to evidence all the competencies in the PCS.
The Reflective Journal is not an assessed document for the APC. Rather, it is a learning tool used by candidates to support their submission. What candidates must demonstrate to become Chartered has not changed as a result of this announcement. It is important that the APC standards are maintained over time to ensure that becoming Chartered remains a respected professional award by employers, peers, clients and members of the public.
While the Reflective Journal will no longer be a factor for assessors’ consideration of your submission, we still believe that completing the Reflective Journal will make for a much stronger submission. The Reflective Journal is part of a period of structured learning and we strongly encourage candidates to continue to keep a Reflective Journal, as it will assist them in identifying case studies for their PCS.
No, you can still submit a Reflective Journal, it is just no longer a mandatory requirement for the L-APC and A-APC routes to Chartered membership.
Yes, we still encourage candidates to write a Reflective Journal as it will help them reflect on their work experience and choose appropriate examples of work to write up as a case study to evidence the competencies in the PCS.
The change to make the submission of the Reflective Journal non-mandatory was announced to candidates in July 2024 and will come into effect for Assessment Round 1 in February 2025. We wanted to give candidates a minimum of six months’ notice of the change, so candidates had time to adapt the preparation of their submission accordingly.
It is not anticipated that any further changes to the APC process will be announced before the end of 2025. We will give a minimum of six months’ notice period before any further changes are announced, should there be any. A wider review of the current APC process is being considered as part of the Education for Everyone (EFE) review.
The Reflective Journal is not formally assessed but it is reviewed by assessors and used as an additional source of assessment evidence. When marking the PCS, the assessors might find that you are on the borderline between being successful and unsuccessful for a particular competency. The assessors will look in the Reflective Journal for more information to provide clarity on how you met the competency e.g., more clarity around your contribution to the project and more background and contextual information about your involvement.
No. If you decide to write a Reflective Journal from February 2025 onwards, then the 12 months minimum requirement will no longer apply.