Contents
a. About the Pathway to Chartership
The Pathway to Chartership is about active learning and is based on a system of continual assessment. With the help of a mentor, you plan, review and reflect on your learning and receive regular feedback from an LI appointed supervisor, via the Pathway online system. When you can demonstrate that you have developed sufficient knowledge and understanding, and meet the requirements of Chartership, you may register for the final stage, the oral examination.
As a candidate you are expected to take ownership of your learning and seek out opportunities for development, allowing you to progress at your own pace. On average, if you have recently graduated and are at the beginning of your landscape career you will take three years to pass the Chartership oral exam. There is no minimum time you have to be on the Pathway for before taking the exam, and if you have considerable past experience, with a good level of knowledge and understanding of the syllabus, you may become Chartered much sooner.
The Pathway to Chartership is designed to be flexible, allowing you to progress at your own pace, and take breaks if you wish. The Chartership syllabus focuses on the needs of the workplace, and takes account of specialisation, while ensuring that everyone entering the profession gains a full and rounded understanding of what it means to be a landscape professional and the underlying concepts. It focuses not just on knowledge, but on understanding how that knowledge is applied in real-life contexts.
b. Why join the Pathway to Chartership?
You join the Pathway to Chartership in order to become a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute (CMLI). Chartership is an independent and external verification of your status as a professional, which acts as an assurance of quality for employers and clients. A Chartered landscape professional has the breadth of skills, knowledge, understanding and integrity to practise within the UK, and CMLI is a globally recognised qualification.
Most employers look for Chartered status, or a commitment to achieving Chartership, as an indication of quality and professionalism when recruiting new staff. Management of larger projects and contracts is often restricted to those in their organisation who are fully qualified.
c. Lifelong learning and CPD
Landscape architecture in the 21st century is a fast moving and increasingly specialised and diverse profession. As a landscape professional you must therefore be prepared to develop your knowledge and learn new skills throughout your professional career. When joining the LI, all landscape professionals agree to undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD). CPD and making a commitment to lifelong learning are about more than simply waiting for the next training event to come along. You should identify what development you need, plan how you will achieve it, set goals and review your progress.
The Pathway to Chartership lays the foundations for CPD by helping you to develop the habits of planning, reviewing and reflection, and taking ownership of your learning – skills you will need throughout your professional career.
d. The Pathway online system
The Pathway to Chartership is managed by an online system, onto which all information is uploaded. This enables you to record your experience in quarterly submissions, receive feedback from your mentor and supervisor, and update your personal details online.
Go to the Pathway to Chartership website
e. Online user guides and other resources
The candidate and mentor user guides provide a brief overview of using the online system:
Read the Candidate User Guide 2015
Read the Mentor user guide 2015
f. Definitions used
A number of terms are used throughout this guidebook
- You refers to a Associate member of the LI who has who has registered on the Pathway to Chartership with the aim of achieving Chartered membership of the LI.
- A Chartered Member of the LI means those who, under the LI’s Royal Charter, are entitled to describe themselves as a Chartered landscape professional: Chartered Members of the LI (CMLI), Fellows (FLI), Presidents and Past Presidents (PLI or PPLI).
- A mentor is a qualified landscape professional nominated by the candidate to provide them with guidance, support and feedback as they progress through the Pathway.
- A supervisor is an independent Chartered member appointed by the LI to monitor the candidate’s progress and provide support and feedback to the mentor.
- Examiners are professional members of the LI who conduct the oral examinations.
- The Professional Development Officer is a member of LI Staff, responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Pathway to Chartership. They can be contacted at pathway@landscapeinstitute.org
f. Confidentiality and access to information
All records submitted on the Pathway system are viewable by you, your mentor and your designated supervisor. They are also viewable by the members of LI staff responsible for running the Pathway to Chartership, and, for a short while, by the specific examiners who will be conducting your exam.
All records on the Pathway system are held in compliance with the Data Protection Act. In particular, all records submitted on the Pathway will be treated with strict confidentiality and will be used for the purposes of running the Pathway to Chartership and for that purpose only.
g. Changes to the system
The LI reserves the right to change the Pathway regulations as appropriate without notice. Changes will be announced on the LI website and in any suitable Institute publications, together with the date from which they will take effect.
h. Contact details
It is your responsibility to ensure that the contact details you wish to use during your Pathway to Chartership are kept updated. These can be changed from the My Details tab of the Pathway online system.
The contact details you use on the Pathway are separate from those you have given for your membership and are not updated automatically. You can update your main contact details with the LI through the MyLI portal.
i. Archiving Pathway records
Your Pathway to Chartership records are maintained by the LI while you remain a Associate member and actively engaged on the Pathway. If you are locked out or suspended from the Pathway, your records will be archived for a period of six months. After this time your records will be permanently deleted. The only exception to this rule is for dormant candidates, who do not have to pay annual retention fees until they wish to become active again.
j. Fees
Full details of the fees due while on the Pathway to Chartership are here. All fees must be paid online, and receipts are instantly available through the online system. Payments are non-refundable and the LI is unable to invoice for any fees.
Until all outstanding fees are paid, you will be unable to access your Pathway system, or log any development. Your development packs will also be hidden from your mentor and supervisor until payment is made.
