CPD Process
Registered professionals are responsible for their own CPD to enhance their professional practice or workplace competence. This CPD process can be aligned to the appraisal or performance management system or development review process within the organization, or the business planning process with private providers.
CPD is a constant process and members need to equip themselves with the skills to:
The ideal starting point is to look systematically at work and identify gaps to maintain current competence and/or expand into new areas of activity ‑ it may be that the learners look beyond their current job, and take a long term view on career development.
Members working in organizations need to bear in mind that their needs and development should link in with the wider needs of the organization. For example, individual departments may have formal or informal views on how their staff should develop. The organizations themselves could have similar positions. Changes in service delivery may dictate development needs, and the views and expectations of clients need to be borne in mind.
The above process fits within personal development planning, whether as part of an organizational or individual process. Guidance on personal development planning, selecting appropriate learning activities to meet identified learning needs and evaluating learning from this process, may be obtained from a variety of sources.
Recording the reflections and conclusions from CPD activities and how practice has changed will provide evidence of learning. Additional evidence may also have been produced during completion of the activity and this can be used to support individuals' personal reviews of learning for example, a project report, a certificate from a course, a patient information leaflet following a literature review. Personal reflections and documentary evidence may also be underpinned by members' making clear the links between their CPD, practice and specific policies and protocols which reference the evidence‑base of their work, as appropriate.
Keeping an ongoing record of CPD and learning in the form of up to date portfolios will help the CPD process continue. Further guidance on how to record learning from CPD activities, examples of the types of evidence that may have been produced and how to develop portfolios will be identified.
Keeping a portfolio is essential for members. Ultimately, it is the processes involved in CPD that are significant, rather than the way in which material is stored.
It is important to note that the process does not end once learning has been recorded and evidence gathered. CPD and learning is an ongoing process of planning, development and review and is an essential process to ensure practitioners maintain and develop competence and improve service delivery.
CPD is a constant process and members need to equip themselves with the skills to:
- Identify areas in which they need to develop, either to maintain competence or to expand scope of practice necessitate
- Define the learning that will best help them to achieve that development
- Decide on the activities and opportunities that will satisfy their requirements
- Evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the learning
- Collect evidence to demonstrate or support statements about their learning
- Apply learning to practice and undertake further review of practice on an ongoing basis
The ideal starting point is to look systematically at work and identify gaps to maintain current competence and/or expand into new areas of activity ‑ it may be that the learners look beyond their current job, and take a long term view on career development.
Members working in organizations need to bear in mind that their needs and development should link in with the wider needs of the organization. For example, individual departments may have formal or informal views on how their staff should develop. The organizations themselves could have similar positions. Changes in service delivery may dictate development needs, and the views and expectations of clients need to be borne in mind.
The above process fits within personal development planning, whether as part of an organizational or individual process. Guidance on personal development planning, selecting appropriate learning activities to meet identified learning needs and evaluating learning from this process, may be obtained from a variety of sources.
Recording the reflections and conclusions from CPD activities and how practice has changed will provide evidence of learning. Additional evidence may also have been produced during completion of the activity and this can be used to support individuals' personal reviews of learning for example, a project report, a certificate from a course, a patient information leaflet following a literature review. Personal reflections and documentary evidence may also be underpinned by members' making clear the links between their CPD, practice and specific policies and protocols which reference the evidence‑base of their work, as appropriate.
Keeping an ongoing record of CPD and learning in the form of up to date portfolios will help the CPD process continue. Further guidance on how to record learning from CPD activities, examples of the types of evidence that may have been produced and how to develop portfolios will be identified.
Keeping a portfolio is essential for members. Ultimately, it is the processes involved in CPD that are significant, rather than the way in which material is stored.
It is important to note that the process does not end once learning has been recorded and evidence gathered. CPD and learning is an ongoing process of planning, development and review and is an essential process to ensure practitioners maintain and develop competence and improve service delivery.