So the time has come for revalidation? Hopefully you’ve been working in your journal as you go but, if not, now's the time to sit down with a pot of coffee and try to remember what you’ve done over the last three years.
MAKE SURE YOU SEND IN ALL THE RELEVANT INFO
- your completed journal in the current Revalidation Journal Template
- a cover letter with a self assessment statement
- a letter of verification from your employer to show they have viewed your journal and it is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge.
NB: If you are self-employed or if you are not currently employed and/or do not have a manager who can verify your journal, at the beginning of your revalidation period you will need to identify a suitable peer to provide verification. This person is required to provide a signed letter to the LIANZA PR Board, confirming that they agree to view and verify your journal. If this person becomes unavailable during the revalidation period, you will need to advise a replacement to the LIANZA PR Board. This person would then view your journal and discuss your work with you. If confident that the journal represents your professional learning over the revalidation period, they would then sign a letter of validation to be submitted with your journal.
Once you have everything email your revalidation to officeadmin@lianza.org.nz
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR REVALIDATION JOURNAL
Your journal must show your professional development activities over a three year period.
The minimum requirements are:
- coverage of the 6 Bodies of Knowledge Clusters - you must have at least two entries against each cluster
- activities from three of the four Domains of Practice over the three years
- 18 entries over the three year period (but no more than 21)
- thoughtful and reflective comments on the learning outcomes of each activity
WHAT THE REGISTRATION BOARD ARE LOOKING FOR
- quality (not quantity or length), keep it to 50 - 80 words - just a couple of sentences per activity to quantify your learning
- relevance of the activities to your role
- well-balanced knowledge across the BoKs and domains
- evidence of depth of learning gained, and thoughtful reflections on activities and the learning process.
PLEASE BE SUCCINCT
Our PR Board members are volunteers and review your journal in their spare time. At peak review times PR Board members can receive up to 10 journals each per month. By meeting the requirements you make their job a lot easier.
REVALIDATION TIMELINE
We try to return journals as quickly as possible, but it can take up to twelve weeks for the review process to complete. We'll let you know how long it should be when we confirm receipt of your journal at the LIANZA office.
NEED HELP REVALIDATING? YOU COULD TRY:
- Support groups – take charge of your revalidation by setting up a group in your workplace and help each other out (that'll be another entry to put in your journal too)
- Case Studies – talk to your colleagues about how they worked through their revalidation, what worked and what didn't. They might have some hints, tips and maybe even tricks to share!
- Get in touch with the PR Board/LIANZA Office for support
DOMAINS OF PRACTICE
In addition to covering the BoK clusters, your revalidation journal should be applied across the four domains of practice (at a minimum your journal should touch on three).
This sounds complicated but it isn’t – it just means that you need to vary the type of training or learning you choose to do when revalidating. Don’t just read articles or attend courses, but try to include networking and leadership activities, and look at where you are learning on the job.
| KNOWING (PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE) |
DOING (PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE) |
| Extending professional knowledge and skills Examples: Attending courses, meetings, presentations, study, on the job training, reading |
Applying professional skills Examples: Developing and delivering services, evaluating and improving current practice, implementing new initiatives and procedures |
| SHARING (COMMUNICATION) |
LEADING (PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP) |
| Sharing knowledge and expertise and developing professional relationships Examples: Networking and liaising, contributing to online discussions, giving presentations, publishing, marketing |
Displaying leadership and initiative (this will vary according to your position) Examples: planning or organizing a meeting, seminar or project, recommending improvements, leading or supporting colleagues, mentoring and encouraging others, advocating for change |
LEARNING TO WRITE REFLECTIVELY
Learning to write reflectively is like having a supervisor constantly available; it enables you to evaluate your performance and take action as needed. One suggestion, found in Show your work: the payoffs and how-to’s of showing your work by Jane Bozarth (2014), is to answer the following questions when thinking or writing about what you’ve been doing:
- What did I do well?
- How closely did expectations match reality?
- If I did this again, what would I do differently?
- What surprised me? Problems, obstacles, people, shortcuts, help?
- If this exposed any lack of knowledge of skill, how can I correct that?
- What did I learn from this?
Here is a useful youtube video that may help you to write reflectively.