The Architects Registration Board (ARB) today welcomed the publication of the Commission on Professional Practical Experience (PPE)’s report on architectural training, which outlines a bold and necessary transformation to better support future architects in gaining quality work experience.
Following extensive engagement with trainees, learning providers and practices across the UK, the Commission has concluded that too much responsibility and risk lies with trainees and that this undermines the quality of their work experience.
The Commission makes three headline recommendations, calling on the regulator, learning providers, and architectural employers to take meaningful action:
- ARB should remove constraints to flexibility and innovation to lead sustainable change across the profession
- Learning providers should take a co-ordinating role in facilitating trainees’ acquisition of all the Competency Outcomes
- Significant improvements in workplace culture should be secured to strengthen how competence is gained
ARB has committed to implementing the Commission’s three headline recommendations. While detailed decisions on how to approach the individual actions under each recommendation are still to be made, the Board will fully consider the report’s proposals and explore opportunities to embed them within its existing programmes of work. The next steps will be announced this summer.
Alan Kershaw, ARB Chair, said: “The Commission’s evidence is extensive in demonstrating that too much responsibility and risk lies with trainees on their route to registration, that this is not fair nor efficient, and that it must change. Its report provides a compelling vision for how to improve the experience of those trainees and the opportunities to create that change. Such a transformation will be fundamental to how future architects achieve the competencies they need to deliver high quality architecture. We are grateful to the Commissioners for the clear path they have set out for us now to consider and progress.”
Professor Sir Chris Husbands, Chair of the PPE Commission, said: “This report is the result of extensive engagement with a variety of stakeholders, and it reflects a shared recognition that we must do more to support trainees on their journey to becoming architects. The current system places too much burden on individuals, and change is both necessary and possible. Our recommendations offer a practical roadmap for reform – one that requires commitment and collaboration from all parts of the sector. We’re encouraged by ARB’s positive response and look forward to seeing this work progress.”
Each recommendation is underpinned by a series of detailed actions and proposals.
Chair of RIBA Board of Trustees, Jack Pringle said: “Training and retaining highly skilled architects from all walks of life is vital to deliver the quality homes we so desperately need and address societal challenges such as achieving net zero.
"But to ensure a brilliant and diverse pipeline of talent into the profession we need fresh thinking and new approaches, starting with modes of study, which should be more flexible and, in some cases, shorter.
"We are particularly keen to see the development of a five-year admission to registration route emerging as a viable educational model, and will work with schools and the ARB to support this development.
"I’m encouraged by some of the findings from the ARB’s PPE Commission, not just because they reflect many of our own insights, which we are already addressing, but also because some of the issues that have emerged will give us an opportunity to reflect on what more can be done.
"However, education reform, particularly around practical experience, has been far, far too slow in coming, and I hope that the ARB Board will now act quickly in response to the Commission’s recommendations. In particular, recommendations that improve accessibility to the profession by removing unnecessary barriers to entry and requiring PPE to be outcome rather than time based, should be strongly encouraged.
"Some of the recommendations have significant implications for learning providers, so we are ready to engage with ARB, students and practices to help ensure that all routes into learning and professional practice work for all.”
