
Time for change
Every year, emergency service training organisations spend thousands, even millions of dollars on an outdated accreditation model that continues to fail learners and provides poor return on investment for public funds. IPSQA revolutionizes public safety qualifications through a new model of certification, that reduces complexity, cost and improves recognition and collaboration.






Many competency systems have become so costly to implement and maintain, that agencies are looking at alternatives that also provide better value for public funds. For many agencies who have adopted state or national accreditation systems, the focus has moved from high impact training, to monotonous compliance box-ticking, often at the expense of learners who then dis-engage from such formal training.
These systems are also touted as nationally recognised, but often when practitioners move from one jurisdiction to another they are often not recognised and have to recomplete training; and the verification of such training is also not available real-time which is often useful in public safety emergency response.
The IPSQA certification scheme focuses on professional qualification standards for a specified public safety role.
Old School or New School?
Are you still using an Old School model? Maybe its time to switch to New School – IPSQA. Compare the tabs below to see the benefits.
- Bureaucratic and expensive internal quality management systems
- Significant training and time costs in developing new trainers and assessors
- Trainer and Assessor attrition due to demands and cost of upgrades (TAE)
- Examinations have to be developed and maintained, and not often not available translated creating barriers for learners
- Skills maintenance separate to achievement of competencies, meaning additional systems require to be developed
- Focus on administrative compliance, not quality learning
- No international transcript and real-time validation of qualifications
- Internally assessed that leads to silo thinking and reduces inter-agency collaboration and recognition
- Creates barriers to use guest international experts as trainers or assessors
- Significant volume of documentation required to be developed for each learning outcome or unit of competency
- Just holding the competency along with a teaching qualification is sufficient – meaning assessors are not neccessarily experts.
- Qualifications are not assessed as a whole, only unit by unit resulting in the student unable to demonstrate they can integrate all of these units proficiently.
- Quick and easy to implement
- Highly cost effective – improved public value
- Minimal internal system required
- Aligned to ISO Standard 17024
- Standardised online examinations available in over 20 languages
- Developed by the public safety sector for public safety sector
- Simple and flexible requirements for assessors, based on real experience and credibility
- Mitigate attrition of trainers due to being forced to redo their teaching qualification (TAE)
- Skills maintenance required to maintain certification
- Allows agencies to control their own training curriculum and content
- International transcript and real-time validation of qualifications
- Independent assessment encourages collaboration and rapport with external agencies
- Opportunities for instructors to collaborate and assess at a global level
- Removes barriers to use guest international experts as trainers or assessors
- Shift focus to producing quality and engaging training, not death by powerpoint compliance
- Agencies can adopt existing published or off-the shelf training resources to support their learners – saving time and money
- Assessment against industry accepted references (manuals) or approved agency manuals ensuring techniques are current.
- Qualifications are assessed in their entirety, to ensure elements can be demonstrated in an integrated and proficient manner.