PDS fully functioning despite the COVID-19 crisis

The TPS skills team hopes all the participants in the PDS are safe and surviving the current COVID-19 situation.  In March we set out our plans to operate the PDS during the lockdown in an Advice Note, including first reviews, final reviews and mentor training.  We are happy to report that all of these actions have been tested and are fully functioning, with three successful final reviews conducted remotely in April and May.  We are now developing further plans to support trainees and mentors in the next few months and further into the future.

Fortunately we were already piloting greater use of the web through our pilot scheme for the PDS in India.  The pilot itself is also continuing to make good progress, with mentors trained and trainees submitting their first PDS records.  For the pilot the first review process has been expanded to a series of web based discussions for each of the three participating organisations. The results so far are very promising, with Indian trainees showing similar strengths (and weaknesses!) to their UK equivalents.  Some are using the PDS to move into transport planning from engineering, so have more experience to draw on, particularly on the management side.  UK mentors are used to buddy with their colleagues in India to complete the support network.

In the UK, the next step is to hold the June PDS Managers meeting on line, where we will discuss how the new arrangements are working and some additional new initiatives we are planning.  We are assuming that some version of the lockdown will continue into the summer, and quite probably beyond.  One important initiative we are aiming to launch later in June, will be to enable PDS trainees who are no longer employed in the sector, to continue their professional development through the PDS – thereby helping them to make an easier and speedier transfer back into paid employment.

TPS Skills Director Keith Buchan said:

“These are challenging times for the transport planning profession. We have taken immediate steps to ensure that the PDS will carry on with as little disruption as possible, and indeed to adapt  the scheme to make best use of web based methods in future. We have had to act quickly, but so far feedback has been very positive.  In fact we think that a significant part of the move on line will become a permanent feature of the TPS PDS and is in line with our long term aims. 

We will continue to improve and refine these new ways of working as we move forward.  Overall we want to assure all participants in the PDS, that, despite the current difficulties, we will be working to give all trainees a full opportunity to continue their professional development and work towards completing PDS and thus achieving the IncTP (Incorporated Transport Planner) title. 

We also encourage participants in the scheme to use any additional spare time they may have at present to move their applications forward – we are ready to receive them!”