Turn your training into certification
If you train advisers, mentors or coaches, your programme can become a SFEDI Specialist Programme. Everyone who completes it and passes the assessment gets Specialist Certification from SFEDI. We're piloting this now with a small number of providers.
What a SFEDI Specialist Programme is
It's your training, approved by SFEDI against one or more of the Specialist Standards. You map your programme to each Standard, we check it, and you deliver it.
Your learners finish with Specialist Certification in each Standard it covers. Your programme carries the SFEDI Specialist Programme badge, so people can see it's been approved.
It isn't a qualification, and it's separate from the regulated qualifications offered by SFEDI Awards.
What a programme needs
These are the minimum requirements. We're testing them in the pilot, so they may change.
One or more Specialist Standards
The programme maps to each Specialist Standard it covers, using its requirement codes, such as S4.3. It covers each Standard as a whole, though it doesn't have to tick off every line.
At least 15 hours of learning
That's about two days. It can be in person, online, self-paced or a mix. Self-paced learning needs to be structured, and learners should have at least one live conversation with a tutor or assessor.
A real assessment
Each learner does an individual piece of work based on their own clients, about the size of a 2,000-word assignment, including some reflection on their own practice.
The right people
Tutors and assessors know the area of the Standard well. Assessors can show assessment experience or hold an assessment qualification.
The assessment doesn't have to be an essay
Learners can choose how they show their work. Here's what counts as about the same as 2,000 words.
Format | Guide |
|---|---|
| Written report, case study or article | About 2,000 words |
| Reflective blog or learning diary | About 2,000 words across several entries |
| Presentation, live or recorded | 16 to 20 minutes, plus questions |
| Video or podcast | 16 to 20 minutes |
| Poster | A0, presented or narrated |
| Professional discussion with an assessor | 20 to 30 minutes |
| Something made for clients, such as a tool, website, game or canvas | The piece itself, plus a commentary of about 1,000 words or 8 to 10 minutes |
Formats can be combined. The test is always whether the work shows the learner meets the Standard.
Experienced learners
People who already know their stuff can use recognition of prior learning to cut down the learning hours. Their evidence needs to be their own, recent (usually from the last three years) and mapped to the requirement codes. It never replaces the assessment.
Short workshops
A short workshop on its own doesn't lead to Specialist Certification. It can be part of a SFEDI Specialist Programme for experienced learners, alongside prior learning and the full assessment. You're free to run your own workshops mapped to the Standards and give your own CPD certificates.
How approval works
Map it
Map your programme to each Specialist Standard it covers, using the requirement codes.
Apply
Send us your mapping, an outline of the programme, the assessment brief and criteria, and who will deliver and assess it.
Deliver it
Run the programme and assess your learners.
We certify
SFEDI awards Specialist Certification to everyone who passes. During the pilot, we check the assessed work before certificates go out.
Approval doesn't expire. If you change the programme, apply again. To keep things clear, programme titles shouldn't use "Award", "Certificate" or "Diploma", as those words belong to regulated qualifications.
Why do it
Your learners get certified
They leave with Specialist Certification from SFEDI, which they can share with clients, employers and funders and anyone can check.
Your programme stands out
The SFEDI Specialist Programme badge shows your training meets a SFEDI Specialist Standard.
Funders can ask for it
If a contract asks for a Specialist Standard, your programme is a clear way to meet it.
Join the pilot
We're working with a small number of providers to test the requirements. Pilot providers record how long learners actually spend on the programme and the assessment, so the final rules are based on evidence. After the pilot, we'll publish a list of approved programmes.
If you already run training for business support staff, it may be close to a SFEDI Specialist Programme already. Talk to us.
Questions about SFEDI Specialist Programmes
Any organisation that trains business support professionals, including training providers, universities and colleges, and business support organisations that train their own staff.
Business advisers and paid mentors who hold the SFEDI Awards Level 5 or Level 7 (or the previous versions of them). Volunteer mentors taking S4 Enterprise Mentoring can join with the Level 3 Award in Enterprise Mentoring.
Yes. The Standards are free to read and use under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-ND 4.0), and every requirement has a code you can map to.
No. To deliver the SFEDI Awards Level 5 or Level 7, you become an approved centre with SFEDI Awards. A SFEDI Specialist Programme is your own training, approved against a Specialist Standard.
Talk to us about your programme
Tell us what you deliver and which Standard it fits, and we'll talk you through the pilot.