Continuing Professional Development, most commonly known as CPD, is basically keeping up to date with professional knowledge and skills that are needed for your work or profession.
It would be expected that an ECS Installation Electrician who has signed up as a Registered Electrician to keep up to date with the latest edition of the wiring regulations (BS7671) for example.
CPD is more than just qualifications though, and can include professional membership, in house training or other types of ongoing learning.
A CPD record shows the continuous learning and improvement that has taken place.
As technology develops and new regulations come into force it is important to demonstrate or prove that people are up to date and is an important part of being a competent and qualified person. A CPD record helps keep all the training and knowledge development in one place and can be shown to an employer, client or professional institution when needed as a downloadable report.
Sometimes it is necessary to demonstrate that a minimum amount of CPD has been carried out in a year. The CPD record helps to provide the evidence to prove this.
Carrying out CPD is not a qualification in itself but it is possible to use a qualification, such as a qualification on electric vehicle charging points (EV charging), as CPD.
CPD is not a single course or specific training. It is a way of developing knowledge and keeping skills up to date and recording that it has taken place. The term CPD refers to the process of tracking and documenting the skills, knowledge and experience that is gathered as part of work or professional interest. It is simply a record of your experiences, learning and practical applications.
Things that can be consider as CPD can be formal qualifications, relevant reading (such as a trade magazine or an online article), watching a webinar or attending events.
Toolbox talks from an employer or the induction from a new work placement or construction site are also a useful source of CPD and should be recorded.
There is now the facility to record CPD directly into an ECS cardholder MyECS record.
ECS cardholders just need to log on to their online MyECS account to add and to view their CPD record.
Anything can be added to the MyECS CPD record but only relevant qualifications that support an ECS card application will be validated by the JIB when an ECS card application is made.
More information about how to add CPD to your MyECS account can be found on the next page.