Developing Professional Qualifications for Travel Planners

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Developing Professional Qualifications for
Travel Planners

• Professor Stephen PotterThe Open University
• Dr. Marcus EnochLoughborough University

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Travel Planning Skills

• Travel planning represents a different approach
  than traditional transport planning. It is
• about sustaining initiatives, not one-off
  projects/actions
• about building partnerships, consulting,
  educating and empowering users
• This requires appropriate skills and management
  approaches

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Travel Planning and Professional Qualifications

• Travel Planning requires different sorts of
  skills and people to traditional transport
  planning (or even project-oriented Mobility
  Management)
• Travel Planners come from a variety of
  backgrounds and do not fit easily into existing
  transport planning career structures
• There can be serious problems of professional
  status
• Existing Transport qualifications do not match to
  the different approach and skills of Travel
  Planning
• Travel Planning is a new transport planning
  profession that has a qualifications gap

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Travel Planning Qualifications

• With financial support from Transport for London,
  the Open University and Loughborough University
  have developed a range of Travel Planning
  qualifications
• The suite of qualifications recognise the need
  for a range of training for workplace and school
  Travel Planners, consisting of

• An OU CPD short course on Travel Plan basics for
  newly appointed TP co-ordinators
• Other OU CPD courses to develop professional
  skills
• An OU NVQ level-4 Travel Planning qualification
• Loughborough MSc in Sustainable Transport and
  Travel Planning

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Open University CPD Courses

• Part-time, web-delivered short courses designed
  to fit with the situation of workplace and school
  Travel Planners (available worldwide)
• Each 25-30 hours long, with an open start and
  finish (to fit with workload) Mix mode materials
• Learning Advisor support (via email 24hr
  response guaranteed) and web Conference to share
  experience with other learners

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Assessment and Validation

• Assessment is through a work-based activity
  applying content of courses to own situation
• If learner fails they receive feedback and can
  resubmit
• QA procedures require the OU to have an external
  and internal assessor for each of the courses
• The courses are also subject to scrutiny by the
  TfL Educational Advisory Group

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Open University CPD Travel Planning Courses

• Courses
• Introduction to travel planning (GT013)
• Travel plan development (GT014)
• Social marketing how to influence behaviour
  (GB017)
• How to design and analyse surveys (GT032)
• Course descriptions and course tasters can be
  found at http//www.open.ac.uk/cpd/?qnode/128

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NVQ Certificate in Travel Planning

• This will be a level-4 NVQ award for the
  completion of the four CPD short courses and an
  assessed integrating work-based activity
• Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)
  accreditation for the award will be in place by
  Autumn 2008
• Travel Planners can already take generic National
  Transportation Qualification units
• For details see http//www.transportationvg.org.u
  k/transportation_qualifications.htm

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Example Introduction to Travel Planning

• http//learn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id2267

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MSc in Sustainable Transport and Travel Planning

• TfL-sponsored MSc in Sustainable Transport and
  Travel Planning launched in October 2006
• Full time and part time options now available
• Programmes accredited by Chartered Institute of
  Logistics and Transport
• For details see Loughborough University website
  at http//www.lboro.ac.uk/prospectus/pg/cv/sttp/i
  ndex.htm

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MSc Programme

• 180 credits
• Programmes are designed to allow distance
  attendance
• Currently lectures take place fortnightly
  Thursday afternoons and all day Friday.
• Full-time students complete in 12 months and
  part-time students over 2-5 years
• Assessment is mix of coursework and exams
• Validated and subject to scrutiny of external
  examiner and TfLs Travel Plan Education Advisory
  Group

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Programme structure

• Semester 1 (year 1)
• Applied Research Methods (10 credits)
• Transport Policy (20)
• Semester 1 (year 2)
• Transport and the Environment (10)
• Transport Business Strategy and Management (20)

• Semester 2
• Travel Behaviour and Travel Planning (20)
• Applied Research Methods 2 (10)
• Semester 1 (year 2)
• Sustainable Cities and Transport (10)
• Marketing Transport Services (20)

60 credit Project
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Developing programmes

• As well as the OU and Loughborough suite of
  courses, other initiatives are taking place
• Other Travel Planning courses are included in
  the ProStaTT trail
• National Transportation Qualificationscan also
  be suitable for Travel Planners
• The TPS training and development site collates
  many UK courses and qualifications See
  http//www.transportationopportunities.org.uk/trai
  ning/

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Thank You

• Professor Stephen Potter Tel [phone] Email
  s.potter_at_open.ac.uk
• Dr Marcus Enoch Tel[phone] Email
  m.p.enoch_at_lboro.ac.uk