Mediator Skills Training

The Faculty

CEDR's Training Faculty is comprised of over 30 professionals and offers a unique combination of legal and business backgrounds.

Experience as mediators

CEDR's training is delivered by experienced mediators who draw on their experience to teach the skills and process of mediation from a practical, pragmatic view point not an academic or theoretical one

Experience as trainers

As most participants on mediators skills course are very experienced and senior professionals the training style of adult-to-adult is critical. Therefore CEDR trainers are not only experienced mediators but also experienced trainers, skilled in the techniques of adult learning.

Diversity of professional backgrounds

Having trainers from diverse professional backgrounds adds to the richness of training and mediation experience being delivered to the participants. The CEDR faculty is made of many different professionals including, lawyers, accountants, business people, HR professionals, architects, teachers and police.

Team work

While it is easy for individuals to stand up and present information, for training to be most effective a group of trainers must work together well to ensure efficient management of the course and quality delivery of the learning. The CEDR team work together regularly and therefore know how to work together to ensure high quality delivery of training.

On-going development and quality assurance

As with any professional, mediation trainers need to ensure they are constantly reflecting on their practice and developing their own skills. Each CEDR faculty trainer receives delegate feedback on their coaching after each course. In addition the whole faculty must attend 2 days of professional development training each year organised by CEDR.

CEDR Accreditation

The Certificate of Accreditation is awarded to participants who demonstrate the level of competence to achieve the status of CEDR Accredited Mediator. It is a highly challenging course, but approximately 70 per cent of participants achieve accreditation at the first attempt.

Accreditation is based on the assessments of Days 4 and 5. Participants must also complete a three-part written assignment within two weeks of completing the programme.

The Certificate of Accreditation is awarded to participants who demonstrate the level of competence to achieve the status of CEDR Accredited Mediator. It is a highly challenging course, but approximately 70 per cent of participants achieve accreditation. The Foundation Course in Mediation Skills Certificate is awarded to acknowledge the participation of those who do not achieve accreditation, and an opportunity to be reassessed may be available for some participants.

CEDR Accreditation is recognised by a number of professional bodies; for example, it satisfies the Law Society's training standards for civil and commercial mediation.

Tried and tested competency-based assessment framework

In order to establish a base line of competence assessment must be based on some from of framework. CEDR's framework is based on assessors looking for demonstration of competence key mediators skills (see page 19 for more detail). It is not, like some other frameworks based on a ‘checkbox' linear process approach which assessees to mediate a full case in the 1 hour of assessment, which clearly is not realistic. Rather, this framework is flexible enough to allow for jurisdiction and cultural differences and has been applied sucessfully in many countries around the world.

Experienced team of assessors

CEDR's assessing faculty have hours of assessing experience as well as working together as a team and, therefore, the assessment process is rigorous and consistent. The team are also trained to handle difficulties that may arise during assessment and giving feedback at the end of sessions. This is incorporated into CEDR's faculty manual.

Quality assurance mechanisms

CEDR has established quality control mechanisms, specifically designed to ensure that we deliver a consistency of assessment across the faculty team. Firstly our team train together regularly on applying the assessment framework consistently. Secondly following each assessment day, all delegate assessments are discussed and moderated at a faculty meeting chaired by the lead trainers. Finally all assessments are video-recorded, which allows for review by faculty, random quality assurance review and an appeals process for participants who are not happy with their assessment.

International recognition of accreditation

There is a very significant difference between “assessment” and “accreditation”. Put simply, any individual trainer or group of trainers can offer a process in which they assess training participants and declare who has passed and who has failed their course. CEDR assessment however leads to Accreditation, which is a formal process of recognition by an organisation, which has sufficient status and recognition that its credentialing carries weight within the wider community.

Assessment

CEDR Accredited Mediator status is confirmation that an individual has demonstrated competence in mediation to the assessing faculty members in a training course environment. To gain accredited status it is necessary to attend the CEDR mediator skills training course and to complete the following assessment process successfully.

On the final two days of the mediator skills training, namely days 4 & 5, course delegates are assessed rigorously against a set of six competencies by CEDR faculty members, themselves practising mediators, who observe delegates on each day as they mediate a mock dispute. The assessed competencies fall into three categories: relationship skills, process skills and content skills

The remaining competencies are assessed through written assignments submitted after the completion of day 5 of the course.

Written assignments

Each delegate is to complete three written assignments for a deadline two weeks after the end of the course.

You will be assessed on the following:

  • A written settlement agreement; this is based on the case study undertaken on day three of the course. You are welcome to use the CEDR Model Settlement Agreement as a skeleton for this assignment.
  • A written self-assessment of your mediation skills; this is in relation to the strengths you bring to mediation and the areas you feel you need to work on.

The third assignment is to write a brief action plan about how you wish to take mediation forward in your career. By completing this assignment we have found that delegates are able to put their plans into action and also give CEDR the opportunity to support delegates where appropriate.

For a confidential discussion about any of our training services contact Danny McFadden, Managing Director of CEDR Asia Pacific dmcfadden@cedr.com.hk Tel +852 28691816, or info@cedr.com.hk
CEDR :: Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution

CEDR Asia Pacific Skills

Training and consultancy solutions