Making CPD more relevant

To use the online CPD recording system you need to register or login

Many professional bodies in the Built Environment sector have adopted particular approaches and structures for CPD for their members.

CPD is sometimes seen as an ‘input’ process, measured in terms of a minimum hours or ‘points’. This may result in individuals engaging in haphazardly planned activities with little motivation, or sense of value for the individual.

Within the Built Environment sector, it is generally accepted that, if you plan, record, and review your CPD it will help to give some structure to, and maximise the benefits of, your activities. It will also ensure that you only engage in CPD activities which genuinely meet your needs. ConstructionSkills has proposed that by:

• adopting a cycle of reviewing, planning, doing CPD, recording CPD, and assessing your achievement, will help ensure the effort to engage in CPD results in maximum reward
• focusing upon outputs (what is achieved that improves competence) rather than just inputs (such as how much time is spent on each activity will also make CPD more useful and valuable.

The CPD activities which you engage in are likely to be influenced by a combination of opportunities, interests, ambitions and needs. These are likely to be influenced by employers and Professional Institutions, which in turn may be influenced by client and broader industry expectations. For example, the impact of skill shortages in many occupations and levels in the construction industry (CIC Professional Services Employer Skills Survey) indicated that employers identified significant:

• Management and communication skills gaps
• Technical and practical skills gaps.

 

To use the online CPD recording system you need to register or login