Erratic working to circumvent current standards (8)
I believe the answer is:
criteria
'standards' is the definition.
('criterion' can be a synonym of 'standard')
'erratic working to circumvent current' is the wordplay.
'working' indicates anagramming the letters.
'to circumvent' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'current' becomes 'i' (symbol for electric current).
'erratic' with letters rearranged gives 'crteria'.
'crteria' enclosing 'i' is 'CRITERIA'.
(Other definitions for criteria that I've seen before include "'Standards, reference points (8)'" , "Principles on which to base a judgement" , "Principles on which to base a judgment" , "Standards by which judgement can be made" , "Standards on which to base judgments" .)