Regulation Matters: a CLEAR conversation

The UK Department of Health and Social Care has published proposed changes to healthcare regulation. How might this influence professional regulation in other jurisdictions? Mark Stobbs with the UK's Professional Standards Authority gives an overview of what the PSA does, including an annual report to Parliament on how each regulator is meeting the 18 Standards of Good Regulation. Richard Steinecke with Steinecke Maciura LeBlanc in Ontario talks about how the PSA has influenced professional regulation in Canada, including the establishment of oversight bodies, a competency-based nomination process for board and council members, and consolidation of some regulatory bodies under a uniform framework.

Mark then discusses some of the current reform proposals, which aim to give all the regulators consistent legislative footing as well as more flexibility to make rules governing particular parts of their work. Richard share some thoughts about which proposals might be of most interest to Canadian regulators: regulators' ability to voluntarily delegate some of their activities to other regulators, perhaps a greater role in overseeing educational programs, the ability to administratively remove practitioners for incapacity or language fluency issues without a full discipline hearing, and an accepted outcomes approach to fitness to practice (discipline).

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860713) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/CLEAR_podcast_episode43_UK_Proposals_Influence_
071321_transcript.pdf)

Carla Caro with ACT and Rebecca Durcan with Steinecke Maciura LeBlanc explore how regulatory bodies consider and deal with criminal history or record among applicants for licensure. Carla shares results of an international survey about where regulatory bodies currently are regarding their consideration of criminal background in licensure decisions, showing a great deal of variation in what is considered, how far back they looked, and whether the criminal history was related to the license being sought. They discuss how regulatory organizations are taking a more nuanced look at good moral character requirements and whether they're placing too much weight on criminal history and considering how to balance public protection with providing fair opportunities for employment.

They suggest engaging your board, legal counsel, and staff in a proactive and systematic review of policies so that you can develop approaches that balance the public protection mandate with things that are relevant and proportionate to the level of risk and nature of the offense, creating decision processes that are less subject to implicit bias or impacts that may have resulted from systemic bias in the criminal justice system. Are the requirements meeting the intent, and, if not, how can we modify or eliminate them?

study that Rebecca refers to: “Rethinking the Character and Fitness Inquiry” by Leslie Levin of University of Connecticut School of Law (2014).  https://opencommons.uconn.edu/law_papers/125/

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860709) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/CLEAR_podcast_episode42_Criminal_History_Licensure_
060821_transcript.pdf)

Sarah Blackmore with Social Work England shares the journey and progress of establishing a new specialist social work regulator in England, including consultation and development of professional standards, a focus on dialog and collaboration with all stakeholders in the sector--social workers, student social workers, academics and those with lived experience of social work, and development of education and training standards with a focus on ensuring that people who use social work services are engaged at every point. She talks about how SWE is looking at the whole of the professional journey from student to consultant practitioner or leadership pathway, with an aim to clarify and streamline the options and expectations, as well as establishing a way to recognize the increasing sophistication of social work practice. She also discusses the goals of working internally as an organization and collectively with the sector to address discrimination and disadvantage--ensuring inclusivity in social work courses; reviewing anti-discriminatory practice training; and creating equality, diversity and inclusion steering groups.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860707) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/CLEAR_podcast_episode41_Journey_New_Regulator_051121_
transcript.pdf)

Other resources mentioned:
SWE blog: https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/news/my-story-as-a-chinese-british-social-worker-during-covid-19/
Social Work in England annual report: https://www.socialworkengland.org.uk/about/what-we-do/publications/social-work-in-england-first-reflections/

This episode of the CLEAR podcast celebrates the important contribution of long-time CLEAR Exam Review editorial board members Steve Nettles and Jim Zukowski. Steve and Jim just stepped down from a tenure of 26+ years with CER, so who better to give some perspective on the testing industry through the years. Steve and Jim talk about changes, innovations and challenges they've seen in the testing industry - when credentialing programs began to accept and comply with the Uniform Guidelines for employment testing, use of computers for item-banking, the advancement of passing score studies, the move to computer-based testing and innovative items, and the challenge of cheating becoming more technologically sophisticated as well.

CLEAR thanks Steve and Jim for their time and expertise over the years to bring timely and relevant information to the CLEAR Exam Review readership.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860706) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/CLEAR_podcast_episode40_CER_Retrospective_041321_
transcript.pdf)

Nicholas Woloszczuk, recipient of the 2020 CLEAR Investigative Excellence Award, talks about the case for which he was nominated, challenges he encountered during the investigation, and the investigative tools and techniques he used to bring the case to successful conclusion. The case involved a 14-year-old girl who was subjected to grooming by her 38-year-old male teacher. At first, it seemed like a simple open-and-shut case. But through perseverance to further pursue a lengthy interview with the victim, use of the enhanced cognitive interview technique, and continued professional development and training on the extraction of digital evidence, further evidence was found and the teacher's teaching certificate was revoked.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860701) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/CLEAR_podcast_episode39_Investigative_Lessons_030921_
transcript.pdf)

Dr. Elizabeth Carter with the Virginia Board of Health Professions provides an overview of the Sanction Reference Points program, a tool used by licensing boards in Virginia to ensure fair and consistent treatment during the discipline and sanctioning process. She talks about the process to statistically analyze past case data and consult with the boards to determine factors that should be considered or should be excluded. She shares how the boards can choose to use the worksheets and points values as sanctioning guidance and discusses the benefits of the program for fairness, consistency, and defensibility of the board's decisions. She offers resources that boards can turn to if they're interested in developing this sort of tool.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860700) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/CLEAR_podcast_episode38_Sanction_Reference_Points_020921_
transcript.pdf)

Caroline Miller with Tyler Technology and James Collins with Microsoft talk about regulatory modernization, highlighting the difference between a refresh or update and a transformation. They advise to avoid recreating the old system in the new system but instead adopt the new system from the consumer/public's perspective. They talk about the need for government to move to delivery of services as an enterprise rather than individual agencies.

Challenges and tips they offer include setting a vision of where you are, where you want to be, and the case for why you want to get there; defining requirements of your new system and determining if it's a technology need or a change in process need; employing change management skills and patience for adult learners who need to unlearn before they can learn new skills; planning in resources to augment your team so you can focus on this large project; and having a good communication plan and common nomenclature between the agency and the technology vendor.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860699) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/CLEAR_podcast_episode37_Regulatory_Modernization_
011921_transcript.pdf)

Chris McIntyre, keynote speaker for CLEAR's 2021 Winter Symposium, talks about what we really mean when we say "unconscious bias," different areas we need to consider related to diversity, ways that unconscious bias can influence our decision-making on a personal and professional level, and what we can do to minimize the impact of unconscious bias.  He also shares some questions organizations can ask themselves to determine if their efforts at addressing unconscious bias are successful.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860693) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/
CLEAR_podcast__bonus_episode_WSkeynote_unconscious_bias_
121520_transcript.pdf)

CLEAR Board members Marc Spector and Staci Mason discuss how the Board is beginning to address the topic of unconscious bias. They share why the Board decided to take this important step of learning and listening to better understand unconscious bias, prejudices and discrimination, beginning with some training sessions and self-reflection. They share CLEAR's goals of exploring diversity and inclusion strategies, encouraging meaningful discussions about bias in professional licensing, and establishing tangible measures of success in addressing these issues - including sharing all of this information with CLEAR's membership.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860692) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/
CLEAR_podcast_episode36_CLEAR_unconscious_bias_
120820_transcript.pdf)

Graeme Keirstead and Barbara Holtry discuss the unique role that public members serve on regulatory boards and councils.  They talk about why it's important to include public members and how their role differs from professional members. They offer ideas for ensuring diversity on boards and recruiting qualified members. They also discuss ways in which regulatory staff can assist public members in feeling prepared for their role and able to make an effective and needed contribution.

Transcript: html (https://www.clearhq.org/page-1860690) or

PDF (http://clearweb.drivehq.com/podcast_transcripts/

CLEAR_podcast_episode35_Public_Members_

111720_transcript.pdf)