FPA drops education test
The Financial Planning Association has partially reversed its decision requiring planners who receive training with other education providers to sit a challenge test, as part of gaining Diploma of Financial Planning (DFP) qualifications.
At its conference late last year the FPA revealed plans to become a registered training organisation and to take a greater part in adminstering the DFP program and qualification.
At the time, FPA education and certfication senior manager Ken Bruce, said the association would recognise learning gained from other sources and would grant exemptions in many cases thereby allowing planners to gain the DFP mark without having to sit the DFP course as run by the FPA through Deakin University.
However the Bruce said in order to ensure planners met the appropriate standards they would need to sit a challenge test to ensure any external course work was up to standard.
This was met with criticism by many third party education providers, including Integratec managing director John Prowse who says many planners studying would not want to sit course exams and then a further test as required by the FPA.
“We do not mind competing on price and quality but the imposition of a further test was unfair for planners taking third party courses and in some cases would have forced planners into taking the FPA’s course,” Prowse says.
Since then the FPA has confirmed with Money Management that the new move applies only to those education providers whose courses already receive an exemption from the FPA and will allow planners to complete such courses and gain the DFP mark without any further examination.
However planners who complete courses with education providers who do not have exemptions with the FPA will still have to sit the challenge test before the industry association will recognise their training.
All exemptions are due to expire in 2004, forcing all those who receive training with thrid party educators to sit the challenge test, however Prowse says this deadline may become irrelevant as the landscape of the industry will have fundamentally changed by that date.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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