About Accreditation

In 2012-14, when EFT International first committed to move toward an accreditation process, our then Chair, Helena Fone, ambitiously took the additional step toward external accreditation with NCFHE (National Commission for Further and Higher Education) Malta. Her intention was to create a new Master Trainer Course and for that course to be accredited by NCFHE Malta.

Helena announced the launch of the new AAMET internal accreditation process that commenced in 2014, alongside the move toward external accreditation of the new Master Trainer course. There was a certain lack of clarity as a result of introducing so many changes within a short period of time. We wish to redress that confusion by spelling out the chronology of events and providing a clear statement of how we intend to move forward.

The 2014 AAMET Master Trainer internal accreditation process required all existing EFT International Trainers and Trainers of Trainers to:

• Study a course manual that Helena had created
• Take an exam that tested knowledge from the course manual plus knowledge of EFT International’s EFT training structures and requirements for certification and accreditation
• If necessary, update their website according to AAMET trainer requirements
• Provide details of courses delivered and number of trainees during the preceding year
• Provide details of their mentoring and CPD record
• Provide personal references from both a mentor and someone who had trained with them
• Sign a Trainer’s Contract

Those who did not complete that process within 18 months from 1st January 2014 were not able to continue training as EFT International Trainers.

This is a process of internal accreditation. Helena devised the process, working with members of AAMET’s Training Committee and Accreditation Panel. The Accreditation Panel, then led by Christine Sutton, Accreditation Coordinator implemented the process. Trainer accreditation was mandatory. Alongside this there was an optional internal accreditation process for Practitioners and Advanced Practitioners, which also involved provision of CPD and mentoring records, references, website check and taking the EFT International online exam for the relevant level.

Since 2014 anyone trained to Practitioner or Advanced Practitioner level by an EFT International (formerly AAMET) Accredited Master Trainer has automatically gained “accredited” status upon completion of the certification and registration requirements. Many EFT International Certified Practitioner-level members who gained certification before 2014 took advantage of this new system concomitantly to upgrade their skills and knowledge from Certified Practitioner to Accredited Certified Advanced Practitioner level. The majority of EFT International Practitioner and Advanced Practitioner level members have now achieved EFTi-accredited status. This is encouraging as eventually the old, non-accredited Certified Practitioner and Certified Advanced Practitioner designations will be withdrawn. Currently those members with accredited status have listing advantages, including a full personal profile page on our new website that was launched in October 2016.

Alongside this comprehensive internal accreditation process a move toward external accreditation of the Master Trainer course to be used for training new EFT International Master Trainers took place, perhaps triggering some confusion between the two processes. For the purpose of achieving clarity, transparency and an accurate record, a historical chronology is provided at the end of this article.

Moving Forward

EFT International is an international organisation with EFT Master Trainers spread across the globe. It is the only EFT organisation to be structured formally as a not-for-profit professional association with Trustees comprised entirely of volunteers. EFT International honours the basic, foundational and advanced skills that inform classical EFT, and that was the basis for the Founding Masters program. We also refer to the evolving knowledge from scientific research carried out into EFT.

For such an international organisation, external accreditation is beset with logistical challenges. External accreditation in any case is known to be resource-intensive. It is predominantly a national-level procedure and would lend itself imperfectly to an international network.

Internal accreditation, on the other hand, serves both our international organisation and EFT well. We are able to gather together international experts in the field of EFT and achieve consensus regarding quality and educational standards. We can use assessment procedures that best lend themselves to the situation and are nonetheless rigorous. We can involve and grow our network of first-class accredited EFT Trainers. We continue to involve consultants who specialise in assisting in external accreditation procedures to inform our internal accreditation procedures, ensuring that we have the ‘best of both’ – high quality, well-designed accreditation processes that suit both our international organisation and the nature and ethos of EFT in particular.

We have no intention of engaging further with NCFHE Malta. We will continue to strengthen and improve our training and assessment structures, our syllabi and materials, our support for our Trainers, consistently working closely with our own international teams. As in many complementary therapy organisations, our internal accreditation programme effectively serves our trainers, members and our organisation’s aims.

EFT International External Accreditation involvement – Chronology 2012-2017

2012 – 2014: Helena Fone, who was based in Malta, initiated production of a Master Trainer course structure and course manual with NCFHE Malta for it to be externally accredited as a Level 4 (1st year degree level) qualification within the European Qualification Framework (EQF). Helena compiled the Master Trainer Course Manual and EFT International purchased the copyright for this manual from her.

Autumn 2013: EFT International’s internal accreditation process for commencement January 2014 was announced.

June 2014: Helena Fone stepped down from EFT International Chair and Executive Board, having completed the 5 years’ service to which she had originally committed (2009-2014)

2014: Prolonged and detailed negotiations continued to progress with NCFHE Malta to meet their standards for acceptance of the Master Trainer Course within EQF at Level 4

2014 – 2015: Shoshana Garfield, PhD, EFT International Vice Chair, continued and completed the work. NCFHE eventually confirmed that the course met with their standards for recognition and external accreditation. EFT International celebrated this success with the announcement that the Master Trainer Course was externally accredited with NCFHE Malta.

2015: NCFHE unexpectedly then informed us that they additionally required provision of qualifications of all those who would be delivering and assessing the EFT International Master Trainer Course. EFT International no longer had any Trainers in Malta. Furthermore, EFT International’s Master Trainers of Trainers were spread across the globe. In light of all this, it was neither authentic nor viable to complete registration as a Maltese educational institution.

2017: It was brought to our attention that the Master Trainer Course does not appear on NCFHE database as an accredited course. Upon investigation it became clear that this is only because EFT International is not listed by NCFHE as a Maltese educational institution, as detailed above. We continue to note publicly that the course was recognised by NCFHE Malta as meeting EQF standards. We do this to honour the huge amount of work that went into meeting external accreditation standards.