Censor in Chief

Position Title: Censor-in-Chief

Responsible To:  RACMA Board via the Education and Training Committee

Introduction
The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (RACMA) is a Specialist Medical College educating Medical Practitioners as Health Service Managers.

Role Description
The role of the Censor-in-Chief, assisted by the Board of Censors is to oversee the alignment of the Curriculum with the Assessment Framework in the RACMA Fellowship Training Program. It is a nominated non-directorial constitutional position of RACMA.

Key Roles
The Censor-in-Chief will:

• Ensure that the Assessment Framework of the College Fellowship Training Program is contemporary and appropriate to the medical specialty; and
• Lead a Board of Censors in the processes involved in relevant formative and summative assessment activities of the training program.
• Be involved in the review of applications for Special Consideration and in the process of Reconsideration, Review and Appeals against the decisions of College Officers

Key Activities
With assistance from the staff of the College, the Censor-in-Chief will:

• Chair at least one Face to Face Board of Censors (BOC) meeting per year and at least one other meeting via other modality (generally teleconference) per year;
• Conduct an annual Censors’ update workshop educating censors in new assessment functions, discussing outcomes of the previous year’s assessment activities and planning improvements;
• Chair ‘ad hoc’ meetings and workshops relevant to ensuring alignment between the Curriculum and the Assessment Framework;
• Ensure Censors are nominated, welcomed, oriented and trained in their respective roles;
• Ensure that there is a continuous pool of trained censors for all assessment activities;
• Ensure that all assessment strategies, methods and instruments are valid, reliable and consistent;
• Lead development of assessment related policy and practice for in-training assessment of Candidates;
• Ensure that candidate assessment progress is measured and monitored;
• Nominate external experts as required for the purposes of specific assessment panels;
• Nominate Censors to Chair Panels of Assessors for specific functions in the assessment framework. The Panels of Assessors may be tasked with:
  • Oral Examinations
  • Oral Exam Questions development
  • Assessment of written work as formative assessment
  • Summative Assessment such as Case studies – written and oral presentations
  • Assessment of Research Training Program Tasks
  • Entry interviews of potential candidates
  • Assessment of specialist comparability of IMG/OTS applicants
  • Training of Censors

Key Relationships

1. RACMA Education and Training Committee

• Chair Education and Training
  Liaise with and advise the Chair of issues, policies and decisions relating to assessment in the training program. Attend meetings of the Education and Training Committee.
• Board of Censors
  Chair the Board of Censors and liaise with Lead Censors in the undertaking of allocated tasks.
• Jurisdictional Co-ordinators of Training (JCT)
  Co-ordinate JCTs in the evaluation of workplace assessment activities and monitoring of Candidate progression in the Fellowship Training Program, e.g. six monthly in-training assessments, readiness for examination and completion of training and assessment requirements by Candidates.
• Preceptors and Supervisors
  Liaise to evaluate the effectiveness of the in-training assessment report
• Candidates
  Liaise with the Candidate Advisory Committee

2. External to the College

• Monitor the external environment, particularly the Australian Medical Council (AMC) to maintain contemporary practice and compliance with standards development and assessment in order to inform College review and development processes.
• Identify and engage with external expertise as required to support the College assessment program.

Financial Authority Limits
As determined by the College Board from time to time.

Location Within Organisational Structure
The Censor-in-Chief is a RACMA Board appointee reporting to the Chair Education and Training Committee and is the Chair of the Board of Censors, which is a Subcommittee of the Education and Training Committee (ETC). The Censor-in-Chief may attend meetings of the College Board as non-voting member.

Tenure and Method of Appointment
The Censor-in-Chief will be a senior RACMA Fellow with experience in the Fellowship Training Program. Expressions of Interest in becoming the Censor-in-Chief will be invited as the need arises. The RACMA Board will consider applications for the position of Censor-in-Chief and determine the appointment on merit. The term of the Censor-in-Chief will be 3 years and further tenure will be determined by the College Board and reported to the AGM. The Censor-in-Chief may serve for a maximum period of 9 years (three terms) unless otherwise agreed by the RACMA Board.

Performance
The College will annually review and report on the performance of the Censor-in-Chief.