Welcome to the Cumbria Branch Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Membership/Upgrading Web Page.
Key Principles of CPD
- all members are expected to structure their learning and keep a record of their CPD
- it is a requirement that professionally qualified members provide evidence of CPD when applying to upgrade their membership status
- CPD is a requirement for all corporate members and CPD records will be reviewed from time to time by the Institute
The main principles are:
- development should be continuous in the sense that the “thinking performer” should always be actively looking for ways to improve performance
- development should be owned and managed by the individual learner
- CPD is a personal matter and the effective learner knows best what they need to learn; development should begin from the individual’s current learning state
- learning objectives should be clear and wherever possible serve organisational or client needs as well individual
- regular investment of time in learning should be seen as an essential part of professional life, not an optional extra
- the Institute and your local Branch can provide CPD opportunities for you, both for professional and personal development
Your work, attendance at seminars, conferences and local Branch briefings, plus other less formal methods of learning, all give you opportunities for developing and maintaining your professional skills and knowledge.
Recording Your Development Activity
Most Branch members are comfortable with seeing everything as a professional learning experience, but where people often feel less sure is with the recording and presentation of their CPD activities. The most popular means of recording is to keep a work record, sometimes as part of an appraisal process.
We do not stipulate how you keep your records or even how much you should do. As a professional, it’s a way of life.
The CPD area of the main site has tools and information to help you think about your CPD.
View the CPD area of the website
To be effective, the continuous process of learning means following the learning cycle, that is:
- deciding what you want to learn and why
- deciding how you are going to learn and planning the learning
- experiencing the learning - either planned or unplanned
- reviewing every experience to see what you can learn from it
- planning how to apply the learning
Recording learning and reflecting are the most important activities. It’s not just about “a tick in the box for attending” but consciously using what you learn.
Similarly, you need to have a development plan so that your learning is not accidental or inadequate. In any event, committing your plan to print is useful because it can act as a prompt or a motivator.
Membership/Upgrading
An application to upgrade from graduate to Chartered Member or from Chartered Member to Chartered Fellow must include a CPD record for the previous 12 months, a development plan showing how you envisage your learning activities progressing over the next year and a commitment to provide evidence for the next two years. If your application is successful, you may be asked to submit to the Institute your CPD record and a development plan for each of the two years following your upgrading.
View the upgrading area of the main site.
The Institute also checks a small sample of records at random each year.
To summarise, as HR professionals you are expected to be up to date with current practice and knowledge. CPD can help you achieve this. It is a process that develops you professionally and personally; and ensures the credibility of the HR profession.