Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
- What is the ELP?
- What is learning?
- Must I work at a local authority in order to complete the ELP?
- When can I do the ELP?
- Can I complete my ELP online?
- How long can I take to complete the ELP?
- What do I have to demonstrate?
- What is set on the road to achieving competence?
- What do you mean by embedded and transferable?
- How do I record my learning and skill development?
- What is narrative?
- How do I demonstrate reflection?
- How do I demonstrate skill development?
- How do I show personal development if I have not worked on my own?
- What can I include as interventions under the headings?
- What can I include as supporting evidence?
- Can I use any material produced by other people?
- Can I use photographs in my evidence?
- How much evidence do I have to submit?
- What is the standard that I am expected to demonstrate in the ELP?
- There must be a bench mark for what is acceptable for ELP. Why can't you tell me exactly what you want me to do?
What is the ELP?
The ELP is a record of your learning and skill development undertaken during a period of work-based learning, or learning whilst in the workplace.
The keeping of some kind of portfolio, journal or log is at the core of all experiential learning programmes.
Irrespective of which format is used, all serve as a focus point to review your recent learning. This enables you to identify strengths, weaknesses, new levels of understanding gained and to review attitudes.
For the learning coordinator it provides a record of your development over the length of a programme and allows opportunities to identify exactly where you may be struggling and require further support.
What is learning?
Learning is the acquisition of knowledge and skills such that the learner's attitude, behaviour and thought processes are changed. i.e. development has occurred. It can occur in a classroom, through experience, discussion and a myriad of other ways.
Must I work at a local authority in order to complete the ELP?
No. There is no requirement for you to work with a local authority. Experience can be gained in any employment sector which has environmental health as a part of its remit.
When can I do the ELP?
You can begin gaining experience and complete your ELP as soon as the opportunity arises.
Can I complete my ELP online
Because of the need for students to provide evidence of their learning and to have a colleague physically sign to confirm completion of the task, it is not currently possible to complete the ELP online. We will keep this decision under review.
How long can I take to complete the ELP?
The CIEH does not specify a time limit for the completion of the ELP. A student can take as long or as little time as they have available for completion.
What do I have to demonstrate?
Through your ELP you need to demonstrate your development of understanding in each of the intervention areas, the development of your skills and your personal development as a budding professional. You will also need to give the assessor the confidence that you have been set on the road to achieving competence.
What is set on the road to achieving competence?
The CIEH expect that as you progress through your work-based learning, your experience and approaches adopted will expand.
You are developing as a student EHP and have embarked on the journey that will ultimately lead your employer to determine that you are competent and capable of being authorised to take enforcement action.
In order for you to meet this benchmark you must show that you have carried out experiential learning and developed your skills to the point where they have become embedded and transferable.
What do you mean by embedded and transferable?
The development of skills to such a degree that you are capable of repeatedly practicing the skill to an acceptable level when faced with similar circumstances.
You should be capable of adapting that skill for use in a different situation and to a different set of circumstances.
The structure of the ELP gives ample opportunity for you to do this.
How do I record my learning and skill development?
The CIEH require you to document your learning and skill development in a series of prescribed interventions.
That documentation involves the production of a series of narratives, supported by appropriate evidence, and the production of five substantial reports (plus evidence) associated with the interventions.
What is narrative?
A narrative is a brief account of experiential learning and skill development carried out by you.
The aim of the narrative is to provide a focus to the personal learning which you have undertaken. The narrative should briefly describe what you did and should not repeat work included elsewhere. It is for you to determine how to structure the narrative, but don't be afraid to use tables and bullet points.
The following must be included in all narratives:
- A brief introduction to the work being described
- A brief account of the issues and problems encountered
- A consideration of the intervention options - this should be more than just legislative approaches. For those not in a local authority setting this is critical to explain how improvements to practice, process and premises can be made.
- Selection and justification of the chosen intervention option Personal reflection on learning achieved and an evaluation of skills developed
How do I demonstrate reflection?
You demonstrate reflection by comparing and offering comment upon what you have done in an intervention with respect to legislative requirements, good practice and/or advice contained with official guidance, codes of practice, etc. The model that we advocate is detailed on the following diagram:
It is also necessary to document what you are thinking and feeling: your personal behaviour and particular worries; whether confidence grew; how you reacted to criticism from your supervisor; what was good and bad; your specific strengths and weaknesses; what sense you made of a situation; where your inspiration came from; what else you could have done; the changes and approach that you would take in the future.
How do I demonstrate skill development?
In some instances evidence for this will be implicit within the material that you submit for assessment. For example the quality of your narratives and reports is indicative of good communications skills.
Producing evidence of skill development in other areas may not be so easy, so consider using either of the following:
- Self evaluation of skilled development that takes place between the start and end of your involvement in an intervention, possibly via the utilisation of a ligart scale or similar device
- Evaluation of your skill development that is undertaken by your intervention supervisor or training officer
How do I show personal development if I have not worked on my own?
The ELP is about personal reflective learning and skill development. It is imperative that you show development. One way, although there are lots of others, is to demonstrate that you have developed by moving through the following stages:
- Observing and supporting the lead practitioner in the intervention
- Supporting the lead practitioner by becoming directly involved in the intervention
- Leading the intervention with the support of the lead practitioner
If you are not allowed by your employer/placement organisation to demonstrate this, you will need to demonstrate development via a change taking place in your thinking, behaviour or attitude. This is done by providing a reflective critique of the performance of the organisation against your own inclination or expectations.
What can I include as interventions under the headings?
The intervention areas documented on each matrix do not provide a list of instructions to students. This was deliberate and was designed to give students and training organisations the maximum amount of flexibility and freedom to include in the portfolio evidence of learning and skill development in broad areas.
Instead of telling students what to do, we want you to show us what you have learnt and the skills you have developed. For example whilst involving in interventions associated with HACCP or high risk processes in health and safety.
There is no template to follow - it is about an individual's learning. This may seem strange to some students at the beginning, but most of those who have completed the task found it liberating.
What can I include as supporting evidence?
Letters, notices, file notes, statements, notebook entries and photographs can all be included provided they are produced by you.
Can I use any material produced by other people?
Material produced by other people may be used in three ways:
- To provide evidence that an intervention existed
- To provide information or facts upon which you subsequently made decisions. For example lab reports, home authority reports, etc
- As a piece of work in which you provide your own critique as an aid to your own reflective practice
Can I use photographs in my evidence?
Photographs can be used, but you should think about what you are trying to demonstrate by their inclusion.
A photograph included merely to demonstrate that you have been to a premise is not suitable. Demonstrating practice of a skill, for instance carrying out plating of a microbiological sample, that demonstrate the logic of your intervention and that back-up your option appraisal are acceptable.
The image must add to your narrative and tell a story.
How much evidence do I have to submit?
There is no upper or lower limit to the amount of evidence required. The final amount will depend upon the complexity of the work undertaken and the relevance of the evidence that you need to use to support your actions.
Copies of legislation, codes of practice, HACCPs, etc produced by others are of no value unless they provide the base for a critique or reflection on your part.
As a general rule of thumb experience over the first two years has taught us that a portfolio of two lever arch files is more than adequate to provide sufficient evidence in most cases.
What is the standard that I am expected to demonstrate in the ELP?
The goal is to give a trained CIEH assessor confidence you have been set on the road to achieving competence. This incorporates a demonstration of experiential learning, skill embedding and transferability.
There must be a bench mark for what is acceptable for ELP. Why can't you tell me exactly what you want me to do?
If we tell you in detail what to do and how to record it, we will have dispensed with experiential learning and replaced it with learning by rote.
Rote learning is much less successful and can foster practitioners who focus their practice around a set of rules.
Rules do not apply themselves. For every rule there must be additional rules on how to use the rule and so on, ad infinitum.
Additionally, rote learning can generate newly qualified practitioners who are likely to misuse rules because they have not developed the knowledge to use them correctly.
