ON MEDIATOR ACCREDITATION
No, because every organisation trains and assesses individuals according to its unique curriculum and rubric. To be assessed for accreditation through SMILE, participants must complete the SMILE curriculum.
Those who pass the SMILE accreditation assessment will:
- Be accredited with the Singapore International Mediation Institute (SIMI) upon their payment of the SIMI annual fee;
- Gain priority access to SMILE professional development programmes and events for free or at highly discounted rates;
- Become empanelled with Sage Mediation and receive opportunities to mediate under Sage Mediation’s service initiatives; and
- Receive a full waiver of Sage Mediation case management fees for their first 2 mediations mediated under Sage Mediation auspices.
As long as you complete any of the SMILE workshops, you will be regarded as SMILE alumni and gain priority access to SMILE professional development programmes. However, to receive case referrals for mediation and for the case management fee waivers, you must pass the accreditation assessment.
SIMI is one of the more recognised mediation standard bodies in Asia. For those seeking a career as professional mediators, the accreditation enables them to assure clients that they have obtained independent certification on their mediation competence. In Singapore, those who obtain the highest level of SIMI accreditation can also have the settlement agreements resulting from their mediations become recognised for conversion to consent orders under the Singapore Mediation Act 2017.
Please contact us, if you need financial assistance to attend our courses.
SMILE’s curriculum and pedagogy focuses on complex international disputes. We adhere strongly to the principles of experiential learning as we believe that aspiring mediators can best develop with personalised coaching through interactive exercises conducted in small classroom sizes. We also believe that trainers, coaches, and assessors should both be experts with a distinguished track record in mediation, as well as in the fields of assessment and education.
Even today, SMILE’s alumni and coaches come from more than 20 different jurisdictions. We believe that there are universal elements to good professional mediation. But, we also believe that mediation skills work best when participants learn to apply the techniques creatively to their own context. Our trainers actively help participants construct their own learning and mediation approach with the way we lead the review of their practice sessions.
We much prefer to see participants in person. And, we believe they enjoy the workshop more seeing us in person too. However, we have also conducted more than 1,000 hours of hybrid training and feedback from our online participants has been very positive. This is not just because of our investment in the relevant technical equipment. It is also because of our strategy to keep class sizes small and our trainers’ effort to keep their techniques accessible and engaging to those who cannot be in the room with us.
You can decide to sit for the accreditation assessment any time within 2 years from the date of completion of the International Mediator Accreditation Workshop.
Yes. The IMAW is an advance workshop that builds on the content of the ICMW.
The SMILE assessment is very rigorous and includes 2 practical segments and 2 written segments. You need to pass every segment to be accredited.
Participants only need to be reassessed for the segments they fail. They do not need to be reassessed for the segments they have already passed and they need not wait for the next workshop to happen and can take their reassessment when they are ready.
SMILE believes that the main purpose of the accreditation assessment is to facilitate the candidate’s learning and development as a mediator. Every candidate will have a 20-minute meeting with the trainer who will explain the results of the assessment and the findings of the assessors. This meeting is conducted for all those who have been assessed, so we can share feedback on areas of improvement as well as the areas they have done well in.
SMILE aims to deliver results to candidates within 30 days of the completion of the last assessment in a cohort. This timeline will differ if the cohort for assessment is exceptionally large or if there are other extraneous factors impacting the expedience of the assessors’ work.
ON MEDIATION ADVOCACY
There is a growing demand amongst clients for lawyers with proven competency as advocates during a mediation. Clients know that the persuasive skill of the mediation advocate is distinct from the argumentative approach of the litigator. The IMI Certificate allows advocates to highlight to clients that they, too, recognise this difference and have invested in the necessary upskilling in view of modern-day conflict resolution needs.
You can complete the 5 modules in any order you like, but to appear for assessment, you must have completed all 5 modules.
No, only participants of SMILE’s mediation advocacy modules can appear for assessment by SMILE.
Passing the assessment enables the candidate to meet the knowledge requirement set by the IMI. Candidates must also meet the experience requirement which is for them to have completed at least 5 mediations as mediation advocates. Once candidates pass the assessment and submit documentary evidence of their experience to SMILE, SMILE can submit their names for certification with IMI.
GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT TRAINING
No, as long as you have a working proficiency in both spoken and written English, you are welcome to apply for our workshops.
Yes, you are more than welcome to join the workshop to explore mediation or mediation advocacy without going through the assessment and accreditation. This is why the assessment component of the workshop is a separate fee.
Yes, as long as you are interested in exploring mediation and mediation advocacy, or in picking up the skills as a mediator and/or mediation advocate, please join us!
