What is CPD?

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development. It is a programme designed to assist professionals to develop their academic and professional skills beyond their initial training on an ongoing basis. The CPD process includes a recording and evaluation of the professional's learning and development, which is reported to and monitored by the governing body which the professional falls under/belongs to.

CPD - Why is it important?

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a process of learning designed to ensure that Professionals maintain their knowledge and keep their skills up-to-date, so that they can provide a service of the highest quality, to the community which they serve.

Is CPD compulsory?

Most governing bodies have made the CPD process compulsory and some are even conditional to the renewal of the professional's practicing license. The purpose of the programme is to safeguard the public, the employer and professionals themselves by ensuring that their knowledge and knowhow is current and up-to-date with the latest development in their field and therefore able to provide the best professional service to the public, which they are licensed to serve.

Who needs to attend a CPD programme?

A wide variety of professionals such as teachers, healthcare professionals, engineers, accountants, social workers – to name a few. Basically every professional service provider needs to comply with one kind of CPD programme or another as stipulated by the governing body of their profession.

What are the requirements to being CPD compliant?

The compliance requirements differ vastly from one professional governing body to another. For example the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) requires healthcare providers to acquire 30 CPD General points and 6 Ethics points every 2 years. Whereas the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) requires a minimum of 120 CPD hours during a 3-year rolling cycle 60 of which must be verifiable and minimum of 20 CPD hours are acquired annually.

Professionals need to check and verify with their related governing body what their unique CPD requirements are.

How CPD benefits professionals?

• Keeps their knowledge current and up-to-date.

• They are more equipped to provide a better service to their service consumers.

• It upgrades their professional credentials.

• It enhances their CV which can open favourable employment opportunities.

• It can expose them to new business opportunities.

• It demonstrates their professional standing and compliance to clients and employers.

What is a CPD point?

Some governing body measure their professional members’ compliance in points and others in hours. A professional will be required to obtain a certain amount of CPD points for a 2/3 year cycle. For example the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) requires healthcare providers to acquire 30 CPD General points and 6 Ethics points every 2 years. A typical single online course would count for 3 general points which means that a healthcare provider will need to attend 10 courses annually.

What is CPD hour?

Some governing bodies measure their professional members’ compliance in hours. For example the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) requires a minimum of 120 CPD hours during a 3-year rolling cycle 60 of which must be verifiable* and minimum of 20 CPD hours are acquired per annum.

A CPD hour would typically be a 60 minute formal lecture or an online course based on 4 courses of 15 minutes making up the 1 cpd hour.

Does a CPD course involve an exam?

Except for professionals whose requirements allow for non-verifiable CPDs, most CPD courses attended online are followed by a Multiple Choice Questionnaire of approximately 10-15 questions with a minimum pass rate (usually 70%) stipulated by the relevant governing body. Usually a professional will be given 3 attempts to retake the exam. Hands-On courses don’t require exams only a sign in and sign out attendance register is required.

How can a professional obtain CPDs?

Traditionally professionals have been attending Hands-On courses or seminars. On the one hand this would require traveling and sacrificing working hours, nevertheless, some would find the Hands-On CPD courses as their preferred option which allows them to break from their daily routine by getting out of the office and meeting with other professional colleagues.

In recent years online CPD programmes are being allowed by Professional Governing Bodies and have become more popular. For obvious reasons such as convenience, saving time and money, this is now becoming the more favourable options of compliance with CPD requirements.