You need to provide a statement outlining your employed or voluntary roles and say how your current role demonstrates the four areas of the competence matrix - see below. It is the most important part of your application as it tells the Validation committee how your skills and experience demonstrate the criteria and helps them reach a decision.
You can use the Statement of competence template to write your text and upload this to the online form,or write directly into the boxes in the online form.
Please note that incomplete new applications online cannot be saved and returned to, so it may be easier to complete the statement template and upload this to the online form.
For further information on how the competence categories apply in specialist areas of practice, please see our supporting specialist competence matrices. You can use these alongside the main competence matrix to see how your work fits into the criteria and to help you write your statement of competence.
If you have recently graduated with a CIfA accredited degree you need to apply in the same way and write your statement using the accredited degree matrix and guidance.
Employed or voluntary roles
Please give detailed information about your role and responsibilities for your current and most recent roles over the last two years. Use each heading of the competence matrix (below) as a guide. You need to explain how you demonstrate the four areas - knowledge, autonomy, coping with complexity and perception of professional context - giving specific work examples.
You can find detailed guidance and examples of what you should include in the performance criteria (PCIfA) and some example statements in the 'Templates and further guidance' section below.
For any roles you’ve undertaken more than two years ago, please give a brief description of the responsibilities held, including any career breaks where relevant.
Writing your statement
You can approach your statement in different ways, but we recommend you use the four areas of the competence matrix as headings, write something for each and describe a specific example of where you applied this in your role​​
Competence matrix for Practitioner (PCIfA)
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Knowledge
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Autonomy
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Coping with complexity
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Perception of professional context
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Good working knowledge of key aspects relevant to area of historic environment practice, and competence in its application, in accordance with relevant professional standards
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Some responsibility for achieving tasks using own judgement and autonomy, whilst working under general supervision. Collaboration with others is expected
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Appreciates complex situations within the role held and able to achieve partial resolution alone. Some activities are complex and non-routine
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Sees actions as a series of steps and recognises the importance of each role in the team
Demonstrates understanding of the ethical requirements of the Code of conduct and is able to apply to own work. Upholds the values of the Institute to work in the public interest
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Qualifications (where relevant)
Please list any relevant qualifications, including title, institution and month of completion and a brief outline of the areas covered.
If you work in academia, please provide a more detailed outline of your qualifications.
If you do not hold any qualifications, you are still eligible to apply.
Additional relevant information
Please include any additional information that may be useful for the Validation committee to take into consideration when assessing your application. For example
- any additional volunteer work in the sector
- any societies or organisations you are involved with, including volunteering for CIfA
- if your experience has been gained outside the UK, please include some background information about how the profession operates in that country and how your role fits within the profession.
You can upload a job description or CV to the online form but you must still include a statement of competence (above).
