(Article from Journal 2022/01 Vol140 Pt1)

WHAT IS CPD?

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the action you take to maintain, develop, and enhance your professional competence. It is a means of demonstrating your knowledge and skills to the wider engineering community and the public.

Every PWI member should keep a record of their CPD, and if you are professionally registered, or want to be, then you are required to do so by the Engineering Council. As a member, you have access to a wide range of activities, designed to develop your skills and keep you up to date with what is happening in the industry. It is vital that you make the most of the opportunities and resources we provide including technical seminars, events, Section meetings, Knowledge Hub, training courses, volunteer roles, and the Journal.

PLAN

A Professional Development Plan (PDP) will help you prioritise your personal development activities and plan your CPD. The focus of your PDP should be demonstrating how you intend to maintain and develop knowledge and skills.

To determine your development activity and priorities, you will need to identify your:

• Career aspirations
• Strengths and areas for improvement
• The knowledge, skills, and experience desirable to move your career forward
• Short and long-term goals
• Technical and behavioural needs
• Priorities.

When building your PDP you should consider the demands of your current role, your future ambitions, and the values and expectations of wider society. You may want to consult your managers, peers, and colleagues in producing your PDP.

In your plan, you will need to include:

• The development activity and objective
• The specific action(s) required to achieve the objective
• The resource(s) you need to complete the activity
• How to assess whether the activity is a success
• A target date for completing an activity.

You will need to review and update your PDP annually, so you can add new activities and opportunities as they arise.

WHAT COUNTS AS CPD

Any activity that increases your knowledge and skills in a way that makes you a more effective engineer counts as CPD. CPD is not limited to activity related to your current job; it should comprise your future career plans, how you are keeping up to date with the latest technology and developments within the industry, steps you are taking to broaden your understanding, and vocational activities.

However, it is important your CPD activities are relevant to achieving the goals set out in your PDP. Here is a non-exhaustive list of activities that count toward CPD:

• Attending or delivering technical training courses
• Presenting at or attending seminars and conferences
• Attending PWI Section meetings
• Supporting professional bodies
• Undertaking research
• Writing or contributing to publications and articles
• Attending or delivering workshops
• Studying for examinations
• Participating in technical discussions
• On the job training and site visits
• Participating in committees or panels
• Delivering or receiving coaching or mentoring
• Personal activity – reading, watching or listening to relevant material
• Supporting community projects using your engineering skills.

You should aim to complete around 30 hours of CPD each year, but you can always add activities that you had not planned for. To make your CPD easier to track, you may want to create a monthly schedule for your CPD activities.

RECORDING CPD

Record your activities to show the CPD you have done. There are two distinct parts to a CPD record. First, you need to document:

• The CPD activity
• Date and duration of the activity
• The PDP objective the CPD activity links to.

Secondly, it must include a review of the CPD activity which should include:

• Detail of the activity, including positives and negatives
• Learning points from, and benefits of the activity
• Changes, improvements, or further action the activity triggered.

Our online tool, My CPD, is available to all our members and lets you create and maintain records of your PDP and CPD. It allows you to create a bespoke record of all your developmental activity, creating entries that capture key details and prompting timely reflection. My CPD also enables you to produce summaries and detailed reports of your activity, all of which will be accepted by other professional bodies.

REFLECTING ON CPD

Reflection is the most important but time-consuming aspect of CPD recording, since it makes you think of the value of the activity for yourself, colleagues, your employer, and the wider community.

After you have completed an activity, it is important you evaluate and reflect on how it met your development needs. Ask yourself: what have you gained from the activity? Did it meet or progress your original goal? Has it inspired further learning? From this information, you will be able to determine whether you need more activities to achieve your goal and if this activity was valuable. If an objective becomes fully met, mark it as ‘complete’.

Reviewing your activities should create a cyclical process, which helps you to identify and plan your future goals.

We hope this article helps you effectively manage your development activities.

Read more articles about professional development.