Welcome to the Cumbria Branch Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Membership/Upgrading Web Page.
Membership Upgrading
Professional membership is the benchmark for best practice in HR. Gaining recognition from the world's largest Chartered HR and development body can give you a competitive advantage.
There are three levels of professional membership;
An Associate member (Assoc CIPD)
• Works in a role giving vital support to the key areas of HR (central HR, learning and development or other professional areas of HR). They use their HR skills and knowledge to support HR leaders and managers.
A Chartered Member (Chartered MCIPD)
• Demonstrates the expertise needed to plan and manage generalist or specialist HR operations. Combining their HR professional knowledge, skill and insights with an understanding of an organisation's context and structure, they create and deliver integrated HR services and solutions that help drive their organisation.
A Chartered Fellow (Chartered FCIPD)
• Holds a strategic position and demonstrates the expertise to lead the key areas of HR. Using their professional skills, knowledge and expertise, they determine, develop and implement HR strategies, plans and policies to promote and achieve organisational success.
Upgrading is only available for candidates who already have a CIPD qualification. To check if you are eligible to upgrade please go to; http://www.cipd.co.uk/Membership/upgrade/Membership-upgrading-eligibility.htm
To apply to upgrade you must supply an up to date CV, the completed application form, 2 colleague forms and the relevant payment. For more information and the application forms please go to; http://www.cipd.co.uk/Membership/upgrade/
There may be members and non members who wish to become professional members and are unable to use to the upgrade process mentioned. Experience Assessment enables highly experienced HR professionals – both generalists and specialists – who do not have the required CIPD qualifications to achieve professional CIPD membership as Chartered Fellow, Chartered Member or Associate. For more information go to: http://www.cipd.co.uk/experience-assessment
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.