WHAT DOES CPD MEAN?
CPD is an abbreviation of “Continuing Professional Development”
A Changed World Has Made CPD More Important
In the distant past, most people would study or train in their youth to learn particular job skills, and then pursue a career where they could apply those skills throughout their entire working life. There was no pressing need to keep learning new things, because the world wasn’t changing that fast.Todays world though is changing faster and faster. Often it is no longer good enough to just adapt to change by learning new things as someone goes about their day to day work.A workforce that can change as fast as the world changes is more likely to be continually improving the quality and productivity of what they do.
CPD is Being Adopted More and More
CPD may be a formal requirement of some employers; or for maintaining “registration” of a certain professional status. Professional associations and institutes are increasingly establishing “Certified Practicing Professional” schemes for their industries; which typically requires a certain level of specified CPD annually in order to claim a particular professional status. eg. The Australian Institute of Horticulture lists a number of requirements for a registered horticulturist; including that they must attain 24 CPD points every two years. The Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia requires registered members to undertake 20 hours of CPD each year. Many other industry bodies place similar requirements upon registered members, across Europe, North America and elsewhere. Medical Associations, Law Societies, government education departments and many others commonly place CPD requirements on employees.
What is Acceptable for CPD
In most instances, the options available to achieve CPD requirements will be very flexible. Courses offered by our school are often taken by people in order to satisfy CPD requirements. Attending conferences, seminars, workshops or industry tours are all common ways of satisfying CPD.
What are Common Characteristics of a CPD Program?
- There should be documentary evidence of participation (eg. brochure/program, receipts, a report from the attendee, a diary notation)
- Participation is commonly be initiated by the employee, rather than the employer.
- There should be a strong focus on learning which has relevance to the person’s work
- It should raise awareness of change in industry and advance the person’s capacity to perform in their industry
Does CPD Need to be So Formal Though?
If you are undertaking CPD so you can meet the requirements of being a "registered professional", you will need to document and keep records of what you do. At the end of the day though; the overwhelming benefit of doing CPD is to stay up to date with trends and developments in your industry, improving your capacity to work at a currently acceptable professional standard.
CONSIDER THE COURSES ON THIS SITE FOR CPD
Yes - the courses on this site are ideal for CPD. Many have been developed with CPD specifically in mind.
Talk to us about using them for that purpose if you are unsure.