The National Standard of Competency for Architects is coordinating a review of the National Standard of Competency for Architects (NSCA), guided by an Expert Reference Group comprising nominees from stakeholder bodies in the profession.
“The NSCA describes what is reasonably expected of a person who can demonstrate the standard of skill, care and diligence widely accepted in Australia as a competent professional Architectural practitioner,” according to AACA.
Setting out functions important to the profession of architecture, rather than simply measuring knowledge in isolation from skills, the Standard is not a form of assessment in itself but a framework.
The activities involved in the practice are broadly categorised into four units, comprised of design, documentation, project delivery and practice management.
Alongside five knowledge domains comprising the broad base of understanding underpinning the profession including; regulatory domain, social and ethical domain, sustainable environment domain, disciplinary domain and communication domain.
In January to March – research and data will be collected, March to April – an analysis of survey outcomes, May to June – option analysis and revisions to the Standard, July to September – an implementation of strategy, and October – a presentation of a draft report to the Annual Meeting of Architect Registration Boards.
“The first stage of the review involves a survey to seek feedback on the extent to which the NSCA broadly reflects the role of an architect across the diversity of modes of practice,” says Siobhan Abdurahman.
“The results of this survey will inform the next steps of the review. All responses are anonymous, and the survey should take between 5 to 10 minutes to complete.”
The survey will remain open until February 27.
