The British Learning Association (BLA) – formerly the British Association for Open Learning (BAOL) – has just been told that it’s been awarded institute status. It is now the British Institute of Learning and Development (BILD). According to BILD officials, the new body’s aim is to take over the mantle of the old Institute of Training and Development (ITD) which was subsumed into the Institute of Personnel and Development (IPM) to become what is now the CIPD. BILD officials argue that this move disenfranchised training and development professionals and made them subservient to the ‘HR lobby’. BILD intends to offer an outlet for trainers to now have their say.

Comment: That sounds fine – until you recall that the CIPD currently has a membership of around 100,000, while BILD members number under 1,000 on a good day. Moreover, in order to bring to market an ‘instant’ CPD offering, BILD has been in talks with the Training Foundation, an organisation which not everyone in the IT training industry endorses. No doubt BILD’s teething troubles will soon be a thing of the past – but, until they are, how many trainers will flock to their ranks?