BSB agrees further key elements for the future of Bar training

Following its recent consultation, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has agreed in principle how it should move forward with several further aspects of its review into the training and qualification of
barristers.

The regulator has today published a new Policy Statement outlining its position on pupillage and other forms of work-based learning. The Statement also contains: an updated version of the Authorisation Framework that the BSB will use to determine whether proposals from training providers are fit for purpose for training during each component of the qualification process and whether they comply with four fundamental principles; and a new Curriculum and Assessment Strategy which will introduce some important changes to the way in which prospective barristers
are taught and assessed.

In relation to the future of pupillage and other forms of work-based learning, the Policy Statement contains information about the regulator’s latest decisions, including confirmation that:

• the BSB considers pupillage or other forms of work-based learning to be essential elements of training for the Bar, so all prospective barristers will continue to have to complete this part
  of training in future in order to be authorised to practise;

• the duration of pupillage and other forms of work-based learning will normally be for 12 months but will be for Authorised Education and Training Organisations (AETOs) to decide and for the BSB to approve. It will need to be for a minimum of 12 months and for no longer than 24 months (or a part-time equivalent);

• the minimum award paid to those undertaking pupillage or another form of work-based learning will be set in line with the wages recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, and will increase annually in line with that figure. (If the award were to have been made on this basis in 2018, it would have increased from £12,000pa to £17,212.50pa in London, and £14,765.63pa outside London);

• for the self-employed Bar, pupil supervisors will be permitted to supervise up to two pupils (one practising and one non-practising) with greater flexibility to be permitted in the structure of pupillage supervision for the employed Bar; and

• mandatory outcomes will be introduced for pupil supervisor training and  refresher training will be made compulsory.

Attached to today’s Policy Statement is the latest draft of the regulator’s Authorisation Framework which the Board has agreed should give effect to the BSB’s policy positions on the future of Bar training. The Authorisation Framework will apply to all AETOs offering the vocational and work based components of training, including, for example, BPTC providers and chambers offering pupillage. It will require them to show that their proposals offer one of the permitted training routes underpinned by the four core principles of flexibility, accessibility, affordability and sustaining high standards, and that they will enable prospective barristers to meet those requirements of the Professional Statement which are appropriate to the component of training being delivered.

Today’s Policy Statement also contains information about the BSB’s new Curriculum and Assessment Strategy which the Board has agreed should be adopted to ensure that prospective barristers meet the competences of the Professional Statement and that they are assessed in the most appropriate way during each training component in their route to qualification. The new Strategy means a number of significant changes will be made to the way in which prospective barristers are taught and assessed including:… READ FULL ARTICLE

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