"role is fulfilled by the IFA..."

[1man1desk]

quote:What difference does it make who does the disciplining as long as the standards are upheld?
posted by Mercenary

My point exactly.

Defining professional standards is a key achievement of the IFA, and it needed a professional institution to do that. Enforcing them is the responsibility of the whole profession, not just the IFA. If we rely on the IFA to do it all by themselves, then we are setting them up to fail and avoiding our own responsibilities.

If you take the view that we need a professional institution to lead the enforcement effort, but you are not willing to join in and help, then I don't think you can blame the institution if enforcement is not effective.

Bear in mind that they are a small organisation solely funded by their members. In defining the standards, they have given a valuable resource to the whole profession that is used much more widely than just within their membership. For curators in particular, they have something to measure performance against.

The IFA continue to update the standards and develop new ones. Isn't that a big enough achievement and ongoing job in itself to justify joining to support it?

In respect of the recent RAO cases, you say 'apparently they were pressured into it' - I would be interested to know the basis of that statement. Bear in mind that at the time the system was entirely reactive - under their own rules they needed someone to lodge a formal complaint before they could take action. Since then they have changed the rules to make it easier to take action - would they do that if they didn't really want to enforce the standards?





1man1desk

to let, fully furnished