Employment Mentor FAQs

APEAS is a limited liability company with charitable status which was established with the following objectives:

To set and conduct the Part 3 Examination in Professional Practice and Management (also called the Part 3 Examination) in Architecture

To establish and carry out procedures for assuring and enhancing the quality of the setting and conduct of the Examination

To undertake any other tasks that might arise within the scope of furthering the first two objectives. The Company is managed by a Board of Directors who set policy and objectives. It is administered by the Chief Executive Officer of APEAS

In Section 4 of the Architects Act (1997) the Architects Registration Board (ARB) are given statutory responsibility to prescribe the qualifications that are needed to become an architect.

The ARB originally prescribed the Part 3 Examination in Professional Practice and Management as awarded by APEAS in 2003. APEAS has been re-prescribed by ARB until 31st December 2021.

APEAS has also been successfully validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) until 2018

The Part 3 Examination is the recognised standard for registration with ARB to hold the title of architect and is the gateway to chartered membership of the RIBA and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).

Candidates successfully passing the Part 3 Examination may make application to obtain Statutory Registered Status with ARB and Chartered Membership with the RIBA and RIAS.

All candidates intending to sit the Part 3 Examination would normally have qualifications that satisfy the ARB/RIBA Parts 1 & 2 criteria. However, it is possible to sit the Part 3 Examination before having passed the Part 1 and/or Part 2 criteria. It should be emphasised that a candidate will not be able to register as a UK architect with ARB unless they have satisfied the requirements shown in paragraph 3 below.

In addition, candidates will be required to demonstrate the breadth, depth and quality of their professional experience. The minimum formal requirement is that a candidate must have obtained at least 2 years of recognised, logged and signed professional experience, of which at least 12 months experience should have been undertaken in the 2 years immediately prior to submitting his/her documentary submission to APEAS

To summarise, the requirements to register with ARB as a UK architect are as follows:

ARB/RIBA Part 1 pass
ARB/RIBA Part 2 pass
ARB/RIBA Part 3 pass
a minimum of 24 months of authenticated and validated professional experience and training (as laid down in the RIBA Professional Experience and Development Record (PEDR))
It is important to note that from June 2011 ARB and RIBA significantly changed the professional experience eligibility criteria in recognition of the globalisation of the architectural profession. Full details are provided in Chapter 3 of the Guide for Candidates.

Prior to June 2011 only registered architects were allowed to mentor candidates’ professional experience. However, with increasing globalisation of the architectural profession, ARB/RIBA have relaxed, to some extent, this requirement. In the context of ARB’s Rule 13b up to 12 months of a candidate’s professional experience may be mentored by a professional working in the construction industry who is not an architect. ARB provides the following helpful definition regarding a professional working in the construction industry:

‘will be an architect registered in the territory where the experience is being undertaken or a chartered or similarly qualified member of an appropriate professional body. The ‘construction industry’ will include qualified professionals typically involved in the procurement, design and management of the built environment.’

Within the Student Section of the RIBA Professional Experience and Development Record website (www.pedr.co.uk) there is a section entitled “Duties and Responsibilities of the Employer”. Within this section there is a very helpful table which sets out the responsibilities of the mentor. These responsibilities can be summarised as follows in terms of the way that the APEAS examination process works:

Establishing and maintaining an organisational framework within the place of employment which ensures that the candidate has access to a wide range of high quality professional experience.
Overseeing the professional and educational development of the candidate, supervising his/her daily work, and reviewing the candidate’s performance and achievements at 3-monthly intervals using the Professional Experience and Development Record
Discussing with the candidate at the start of each of the 3-monthly periods of professional experience their main work objectives for the next 3 months together with the learning opportunities open to the candidate during that period.
Ensuring that the candidate is not unduly challenged by tasks inappropriate to his/her current level of experience.
Ensuring that a candidate is not given as a matter of routine tasks that are of little or no educational or developmental value to him/her.
Providing opportunities for organised professional training which include first-hand experience of a range of general procedures and tasks as well as training in some procedures and tasks which may be of a more specialist nature.
In addition, depending on how the place of employment is structured the mentor may be responsible for ensuring the following:

Providing the candidate with a contract of employment and job descriptor which include details such as hours of work and the time available for study and opportunities for professional and educational development.
Ensuring that the candidate is supervised at all times including when the mentor is absent from work and that safe working arrangements are in place for the candidate while at work.
Commenting, signing and dating the candidate’s progress and achievements for each 3-monthly period of professional experience in the PEDR record sheets within a reasonable period following the end of each 3 month period.
Ensuring that the candidate is obtaining relevant experience of contractual arrangements and practical procedures to support his/her educational and professional development towards the Part 3 Examination.
Encouraging the candidate to attend one of the Part 3 update courses provided by the five Scottish Higher Education Institutions that deliver degree programmes in architecture.

The challenge for any mentor is to find an appropriate balance of input into their candidate’s professional development. A mentor should reasonably expect his/her candidate to be taking a constructive and proactive interest in their own professional experience. It must be emphasised that it is the candidate who is ultimately responsible for their own professional experience and development. Thus, mentors should not have to ‘spoon feed’ their candidate but rather should concentrate on creating an environment in which the candidate is positively encouraged to explore, examine, question and reflect on a range of issues in architectural practice. Candidates should be allowed to challenge in sensitive but constructive ways current ideas, views and attitudes on, for example, office systems, procedures and practices. Candidates should also be encouraged to express opinions and make judgements about practice issues although such opinions and judgments should be supported by evidence and/or well developed arguments. For example, the candidate may be given a task to assess the benefits versus risks to the employer of taking on a particular project, and based on reasoned analysis, provide a judgement as to whether the employer should undertake the project or not.

Mentors should also actively encourage candidates to learn the importance of accepting constructive advice and criticism about their work, judgements and opinions as this will become part of their professional life when they are a registered architect.

Referring again to the PEDR website, in the section entitled “Duties and Responsibilities of the Student” the responsibilities of students in the mentoring process are clearly set out. These can be summarised as follows in terms of the way that the APEAS examination process operates:

Comply with the codes of professional conduct set out by ARB, RIBA and the RIAS.
Inform your PSA of the name and place of employment of your mentor. Maintain regular dialogue with your PSA.
Take responsibility for your own learning, so that by the end of the period of professional experience you are in a position to accept the role and responsibilities of a registered architect.
Take responsibility for your own work subject to supervision by the mentor.
Be clear what your roles and responsibilities are as an employee. You should not as a matter of routine be expected to undertake tasks which are of little value to your professional or educational development. Likewise, you should not be expected to undertake task for which you have not been adequately prepared.
Complete the 3-monthly Professional Experience and Development Record sheets in a timely, accurate and reflective manner obtaining in advance permission from your employer for the inclusion of materials produced in the place of employment.
In addition, depending on how the place of employment is structured the mentor may be responsible for ensuring the following:

Providing the candidate with a contract of employment and job descriptor which include details such as hours of work and the time available for study and opportunities for professional and educational development.
Ensuring that the candidate is supervised at all times including when the mentor is absent from work and that safe working arrangements are in place for the candidate while at work.
Commenting, signing and dating the candidate’s progress and achievements for each 3-monthly period of professional experience in the PEDR record sheets within a reasonable period following the end of each 3 month period.
Ensuring that the candidate is obtaining relevant experience of contractual arrangements and practical procedures to support his/her educational and professional development towards the Part 3 Examination.
Encouraging the candidate to attend one of the Part 3 update courses provided by the five Scottish Higher Education Institutions that deliver degree programmes in architecture.

All Part 3 candidates are assessed against the jointly agreed ARB/RIBA Professional Criteria at Part 3.

These criteria, together with information on how to interpret them, can be found on the Candidate section of the APEAS website.

The APEAS Part 3 Examination compares with Part 3 examinations offered by other bodies in that all candidates are assessed against the jointly agreed ARB/RIBA Criteria at Part 3. However, in another sense the APEAS Part 3 Examination is unique in that APEAS does not currently offer a course leading to the Part 3 Examination.

In Scotland it has been traditionally held by both the architectural profession and Higher Education institutions offering prescribed and validated degree programmes in architecture that the Part 3 is essentially a ‘worked based’ qualification with candidates acquiring the necessary knowledge, understanding, skills and judgment in architectural practice to sit the Part 3 Examination through employment.

This approach highlights the importance of candidates acquiring a wide range of high quality professional experience and your role in helping candidates to acquire such experience. To support candidates towards the Part 3 Examination the five Higher Education Institutes offering degree programmes in architecture run short update courses for candidates.

It is important to note that your candidate can also obtain information, advice and support from his/her Professional Studies Advisor (PSA). The PSA is normally a member of staff in a Scottish school of architecture who has responsibilities for supporting and advising Part 3 candidates. Among their duties PSAs have responsibility for commenting on and counter-signing candidate’s 3-monthly PEDR record sheets once you have commented and signed them. Candidates can also seek their PSA’s advice on the appropriateness of their Experience Based Analysis title and synopsis.

There are three components in the APEAS Part 3 Examination. These three components are as follows:

Experience
Experience Based Analysis
Practice Paper

The Experience component consists of two documents: a Record of Experience and an Evaluation of Experience. The vast majority of candidates record their professional experience in a RIBA Professional Experience and Development Record (PEDR). One of your tasks as a mentor is to review your candidate’s PEDR record sheets on a 3-monthly basis and then comment on the candidate’s progress and achievements and sign and date the record sheets in the appropriate place.

The Evaluation of Experience comprises of a 2000 word report in which candidates critically evaluate their professional experience. It is accompanied by a one page CV.

Although there are two separate documents these are assessed together for the Experience component based on the breadth, depth and quality of their experience.

The Experience Based Analysis consists of a 6000 word report plus appendices in which the candidate examines either a building project or a theme from contemporary architectural practice. As the name implies, the emphasis in the report is on taking a building project or theme that is directly relevant to the candidate’s own professional experience and which contains a significant level of critical analysis of the subject area.

This component is open ended in the sense that the candidate chooses his/her own subject and can start the investigation when he/she likes. Traditionally this component comprised essentially of a ‘diary of the job’ but such a submission would not be acceptable nowadays. Examiners are looking for candidates to undertake critical evaluation leading to them exercising their professional judgment. The candidate’s judgments (including conclusions and recommendations) are often the subject of discussion at oral interview.

The Practice Paper is a two-day, open-book, in-office examination based on a scenario of a hypothetical architectural practice. To make the examination as realistic as possible, candidates are allowed to consult with construction professionals both within and outwith the office providing they cite such consultations in their answers. The examination paper itself usually consists of 10 questions which require candidates to produce memos, prepare letters, write short reports etc. Questions are designed as far as possible to assess candidates’ judgment on a range of architectural practice issues.