The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) is piloting a new form of assessment for the R06 Financial Planning Practice unit.
The Shaping the future together consultation gave members and other key stakeholders the opportunity to feed back on the CII’s proposed plans, as well as the services it delivers and how the professional body can best meet their needs and expectations in the future.
The CII is conducting this pilot as the majority of financial planners who took part in the Shaping the future together consultation said they wanted more flexibility and realistic assessed tasks to some assessments.
In place of the scheduled written exams, the professional body is piloting coursework assessments for the R06 Financial Planning Practice unit of the CII Level 4 Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.
The format of the coursework assessments for R06 will be assignments based on client case studies.
Gill White, chief customer officer at the CII, said: “The assessment is designed to meet the same syllabus learning outcomes and assessment criteria as the current R06 exam, and meets the Level 4 qualification descriptors set out by education regulators. The assessment criteria include a requirement for analysis and justified recommendations, which are appropriate to assess in longer responses such as case study-based assignments.
“We worked with practitioners within the profession, advisory groups and the PFS board to discuss how these skills are demonstrated in a professional context, to design the coursework assessment approach and tasks.”
A review will be undertaken later this year once the pilot is completed and feedback from candidates has been received.
The CII will then decide during 2023 whether assessment for the R06 Financial Planning Practice unit will switch from written examinations to coursework and agree the timetable for any changes.
