Judge Accreditation Scheme

At the AGM in February 2015, proposed changes were made to the list of L&CPU approved Judges. This was in response to concerns from some clubs that judging standards can be improved and was devised with the help of volunteer judges who made suggestions as to how improvements could be made.

Accreditation Scheme

From the beginning of 2016 judges have been offered the opportunity to earn an LCPU Judge Accreditation. This process is voluntary and consists of attending a seminar and provision of at least six sequential satisfactory feedback forms from the clubs where they have judged. The feedback form can be downloaded from the portal communications list. Feedback forms are an efficient way of obtaining both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the service that we provide…it is a way that we understand the service that we give to the clubs and a way for judges to look at their own performance to see what improvements can be made.

Judges who wish to be involved in the accreditation process will give the club a feedback form to fill it in and ask them to return it to the Lecturers and Judges Secretary. Clubs are asked not to send in a form if the judge has not requested it. Judges will have access to their feedback at any time or at the end of their accreditation process.

All new judges will automatically join the scheme so there will be a bottom-up approach with accreditation becoming the norm over the next few years. Judges who decline to enter the accreditation process will not be penalised and will continue to have their portal listing as before. We very much appreciate the time and effort that ALL our volunteer judges put in on a regular basis.

Seminars will be of two types…e.g. the ones where we choose new judges and where existing judges will be able to attend, if they wish, as a “refresher course”. The second type of seminar will be a judges’ forum meeting, where listed judges can meet on a peer-to-peer basis to discuss a pre-arranged agenda in an effort to develop a little more clarity of method and consistency across the judging process and to agree, where possible, best practice. Attendance at either of these seminars will count towards accreditation.

Judges who have earned the accreditation are identified on the portal/directory listings. Clubs are advised to check the listing regularly by downloading a new version of the list of judges or a full directory, as changes to the list will be made regularly throughout the year.

PAGB listed judges will also be identified as a separate listing on the information portal and on directory listings.