Legal Ombudsman training: shaping the development of Legal Ombudsman employees, partnership for accredited programmes.

Shaping the development of Legal Ombudsman employees: Northumbria University and Queen Margaret University Partnership for accredited programmes. In April 2010, Northumbria University formed a partnership with Queen Margaret University (QMU) to provide accredited legal and ombudsman practice training for the Legal Ombudsman for England and Wales. The new organisation was being established to resolve legal complaints in a fair and independent way (Legal Ombudsman 2011). After completion of the first year of training, Northumbria and QMU are evaluating the implementation of the training with key stakeholders at the organisation. When the training solution was developed, both universities, influenced by the work of Graham and Rhodes (2007), aimed to encourage an investigative and integrated relationship between academic theory and practice in the workplace which prepares individuals to be reflective practitioners. Young and Garnett (2007, 2009) highlight the clear policy context for work-based learning with employer engagement and workforce development seen by government as important challenges. The Northumbria training covers the legal landscape and 8 key areas of law which commonly give rise to complaints. This is assessed by multiple choice questions online via Northumbria’s virtual learning environment. The employees then undertake a further 10 credit module and 30 credit work-based project. These modules enable the employees to consider and reflect on their future learning needs and work on a project of benefit to the new organisation. On successful completion the employees gain a 60 credit work-based certificate. The QMU training involved delivery of a 5 credit point module on ombudsman practice and all staff sit an exam. This paper sets out the work-based project, the partnership arrangements, pioneering curricula, feedback on the training and research with colleagues at the Legal Ombudsman. It provided perspectives from the universities and staff at the Legal Ombudsman. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to collect these perspectives and the data was analysed and presented at the conference in September 2011.