Changes coming for the GCF from the Fine Art Trade Guild

[Rob Markoff]

An important change to the GCF was approved at the Membership Meeting I attended in London last month.

The Fine Art Trade Guild has their version of framer certification called, the GCF. It used to stand for Guild Commended Framer. Soon it will be changed to Guild CERTIFIED Framer with some new requirements to maintain the Certification.


Like the CPF exam, when the GCF was originally established, there was no requirement for continuing education or "recertification." To maintain the CPF, the PPFA requires a "recertification" course every 4 years and requires ALL CPFs who want to take the MCPF exam to have completed the recert course - so those who were "grandfathered" in before the requirement of recertification to maintain a CPF also need to take a recertification class to advance to the MCPF.


The Guild will now have something called, CPD or Continuing Professional Development. ALL GCF's (regardless of when they became a GCF) will have to complete classes, attend workshops or read articles to earn a set number of points to maintain their GCF certification. CPD will include downloading articles from a website, attending Guild educational events, reading Art Business Today articles, etc. This will encourage attendance at Guild sponsored workshops and also branch (we call them chapters) meetings. Various points will be assigned to the tasks/events and a certain number of points must be earned within a set period of time.


This is an important step for the Guild as it helps assure that Certified framers keep up with the changing technology and approved materials and techniques.

 

[Kai Vanuffelen]

The Guild will have difficulty contacting all the GCF's informing them of the requirements to attend these courses. especially those that are not members and have shifted since becoming a GCF.
My GCF certificate does not have an expiry-date, so I will not be in a rush to sit these courses. No mention of changes to the advanced accreditations.

 

[Ormond Williams MCPF]

My GCF certificate does not have an expiry-date, so I will not be in a rush to sit these courses.

Why wouldn't you?
As Rob said "This is an important step for the Guild as it helps assure that Certified framers keep up with the changing technology and approved materials and techniques."

 

[Kai Vanuffelen]

Oh, I probably will at some stage, but I will not be rushing into it. There is also the logistics of administering these courses. It is relatively easily done in Britain, where most GCF's are living, but what about all the international GCF's ? Does the Guild expect me to go the Britain to sit a few courses? In the meantime the customer does not know, that the GCF qualification has expired when they see it hanging in the shop.

At present, for those who are an MCPF, they have to sit a number of approved classes in a four year term to retain their qualification and be recertified. A CPF has to sit a recertification-course.
Somehow it must be possible to transfer these recertifications and class-attendances to the upkeep of the GCF qualification. Point-sharing. Otherwise we are merely doubling up on courses.

It also makes me wonder, what is the point for someone who has the MCPF qualification to subsequently sit the GCF exam, when both exams are on the surface similar. I know they are not. It is just adding a few more letters behind your name. Keep life simple and just become an MCPF without bothering about the GCF.

 

[Rob Markoff]

There will be many opportunities for CPD besides sitting in a classroom. Expanded use of the web for "webinars", links to videos on other websites, a trip to a museum (and not necessarily in GB), downloading an article from ABT, etc. Much of it will be on the honor system - there won't be a "test" on the articles, even possibly posting on a framing forum will earn points - just the "participation" that you have accessed the materials or continuing your professional development will earn points.

I don't think it is about the customer or their perception - but for personal growth and responsibilty to one's craft and profession.

There are leaders and followers......Kai I would hope you would take a pro-active leadership role. This development can be a very positive change for the framing industry.

 

[Rob Markoff]

Mal Reynolds asked that I post this on his behalf:

Thank you Rob for bringing this to the attention of this Forum.
As far as the Fine Art Trade Guild(FATG) is concerned Continuing Professional Development(CPD) is a priority programme. Initially this is to be rolled out in the UK but we have every intention of including our overseas members in the future.
It is our intention to make the gaining of credits as easy as possible whilst maintaining the integrity of the programme. There will be both verifiable and non-verifiable credits available, the details of which have yet to be worked on. Essentially, verifiable credits will be obtainable at the majority of Guild sponsored events such as the Awards Weekend which Rob attended as a Keynote speaker. e.g for attending Rob’s seminar a member may have gained some 5 credits out of a total of say 20 required in a two year period.
The type and number of non-verifiable events could well be unlimited. Should a GCertF have an idea then by submitting this to the Framers Committee credits could be allowed e.g. should a framer give a talk to an embroidery group in the Outer Hebrides then the Framers Committee would allocate credits. It is further possible that the Guild will produce a number of videos which would count towards CPD.
As Chair of the Framers Committee I would hope that a person sufficiently interested in their chosen profession to take the GCertF or those existing GCFs would continue to take pride in their qualification by furthering their knowledge through the learning experiences the Guild intend to provide through the CPD programme.
It is intended that whilst the events will be educational they will also be enjoyable, encourage ideas and social networking.
For those interested there is a CPD Forum, open to all, on the FATG web site.
http://www.fineart.co.uk/forum/cpdtalk-13.aspx