A Guide to CPD for Psychologists

Undertaking Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is both a professional expectation and a personal responsibility for psychologists. With the complexity of working life, accelerating pace of change and the half-life of knowledge gained in initial training, engagement of CPD for psychologists helps demonstrate their commitment to keeping up to date with new knowledge and developments whilst ensuring safer and more effective practice. In this article, we hope to give a reminder about the key benefits and importance of CPD throughout a psychologist’s career.

What does Continuing Professional Development (CPD) involve?

The importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) cannot be understated. For registered psychologists, carefully tailored professional development can promote competency and relevance in practice, which in turn assists members of the public who seek psychology services. More importantly, CPD will impact on the safety and quality of the patient and carer experience by ensuring patients receive the best possible evidence-based treatment and care.

There are clear moral obligations, and emerging regulatory requirements, that make CPD for psychologists an integral and everyday part of daily activity. Ongoing professional development, such as completing CPD psychology courses on an annual basis is in fact a requirement of registration with hours varying by individual professional body.

After initial studying as a psychologist, you will need to be committed to continuous learning and always keeping your skills and knowledge up to date. CPD enables registered psychologists to develop their professional qualities and maintain, improve or broaden knowledge, expertise and competence over the course of their career.

Remaining competent as a Psychologist

CPD enables Psychologists to remain competent in order to develop, grow and fulfil their potential at all stages of their professional life. It enables professional organisations to ensure that practitioners are engaged in activities that maintain and improve professional standards and offers Members accountability for their own professional development at all stages of their professional life.

What are the different types of CPD?

Numerous activities can be considered as contributing to CPD for psychologists. These activities can be categorised into informal (self-directed) activities such as reading, scientific journals or formal (directed) activities such as attending seminars or conferences. Whatever, and regardless of the nature of the activity chosen there must be clear learning objectives related to the individual’s professional role and their development as a psychologist.

CPD doesn’t have to be just formal CPD psychology courses. A CPD activity is any activity from which you learn and develop. Listed below are selections of activities that can be considered as CPD.

• Work-based learning. For example, reflecting on experiences at work, considering feedback from service users or being a member of a committee.
• Professional activity. For example, being involved in a professional body or giving a presentation at a conference.
• Formal education. For example, going on formal CPD courses for psychologists or carrying out research.
  CPD activities should be varied and balanced between directed and self-directed. Some examples of both can include -

Directed CPD activities

• post-qualification training CPD courses for psychologists
• received or conferred professional supervision in an area of psychology
• presentation or attendance at conferences
• research
• professional committee work.

Self-directed CPD activities

• personal psychological counselling for professional purposes
• systematic reflection on practice
• maintaining a CPD log book (one hour maximum)

This is not a full list and there may be other activities not listed that still help you to learn and develop and which can be considered as part of your professional development.

Who are the professional bodies for Psychologists in the UK?

There are numerous public and private, commercial, not-for-profit and charitable organisations which offer psychologists CPD courses and other learning opportunities. As a starting point, professional bodies such as the British Psychological Society (BPS), and the International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP) offer various ways in which you can continue your professional development within the UK psychology space.

The British Psychological Society (BPS)

The British Psychological Society (BPS) is the representative body for UK psychology and psychologists and considers CPD to be an integral part of the process of adapting to change, and essential for maintaining and enhancing professionalism and competence for all of their members.

Continuing Professionals Development is both a professional expectation and an individual responsibility, with the understanding that you will take a structured and self-managed approach to further learning through:

• actively engaging in CPD
• maintaining a record of your CPD
• applying learning from CPD to your professional practice

There is a range of formal and informal CPD learning activities that may be used for CPD and it is recommended that you engage in a mix of CPD activities. The British Psychological Society provides multiple ways for members to keep their professional knowledge and abilities up-to-date, from workshops and e-learning courses, to ongoing programmes of conferences and events.

What are the CPD requirements?

Professional development is not purely about inputs (i.e. simply undertaking CPD courses and activities). The British Psychological Society instead promote a outcomes-based approach to CPD. Therefore it is not just about undertaking learning activities (and collecting hours or points), but instead focuses on the learning gained from CPD and its application to current or future practice.

The BPS CPD policy requires reflective practice, focusing on your capacity to evaluate your learning and how you have applied what you have learnt and the benefits to you, your clients and the services you provide. The Society recommends that you set aside dedicated time for CPD. Whilst recognising that it is the learning outcome, rather than just the time spent that is important, the BPS is aware that many members have asked for guidance as to the minimum amount of time needed for CPD. Bearing in mind that you will need to undertake varying amounts and different types of CPD at different stages of your career, the minimum amount of time needed for engagement in CPD is likely to be between ½ and 1 day per month.

The International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP)

The International Society for Coaching Psychology (ISCP) is an international professional membership body established to further the discipline and profession of UK psychology. Undertaking Continuing Professional Development (CPD), is recommended by the Society. Full Members of the Society are actively encouraged to undertake 40 hours of CPD each year.

Qualified Psychologists wishing to work towards the International Society for Coaching Psychology accreditation or certification process will need to provide evidence of a minimum of 40 hours annual CPD and this will be mandatory in order to achieve and maintain ISCP accredited or certified coaching psychologist status. They will also need to have regular supervision/consultation of their coaching and coaching psychology practice from a qualified psychologist.

Of these 40 hours of psychology related annual CPD, a minimum is of 30 hours should be undertaken specifically relating to coaching psychology. Please note, these activities should also reflect coaching psychology and not coaching.

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) is a statutory regulator of over 280,000 professionals from 15 health and care professions in the United Kingdom. All registrants should undertake CPD on a continuing basis, made up of activities that enhance their practice and learning. When you register with the HCPC, and then each time you renew your registration, you will be asked to confirm that you meet the HCPC CPD standards.

There are five CPD standards of membership to the HCPC.

A registrant must:

• 1. Maintain a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of their CPD activities
• 2. Demonstrate that their CPD activities are a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practice
• 3. Seek to ensure that their CPD has contributed to the quality of their practice and service delivery
• 4. Seek to ensure that their CPD benefits the service user
• 5. Upon request, present a written profile (which must be their own work and supported by evidence) explaining how they have met the Standards for CPD.

Your CPD must include a mixture of different types of learning. This means that you need to carry out at least two different types of learning activity. In practice, most registrants of the HCPC will carry out many different types of learning while registered. If you were audited and had only carried out one type of learning – for example, if you had only read professional journals but had not carried out any other kind of learning – you would not meet this standard.

CPD for Psychologists – Keeping your record

There is no exact format for recording CPD, although some professional bodies and employers do have recommendations. You might choose to keep a binder or folder including documents such as hours committed, certificates of attainment or notes that you have kept relating to your CPD, or instead keep this record electronically. Please make sure that you can access your record – for example, in case you leave your current employer.

Evidence of CPD progression

Many professions expect individuals to be able to evidence their CPD progression to ensure they are maintaining the level of knowledge required for their role. If you are audited, you might be asked to provide details of the activities you have completed over the previous two years and send in supporting evidence. So keeping a good record will mean that you can do this easily.

Your CPD should be relevant to your current or future practice. This means that your CPD should be related in some way to your registration as a UK psychology professional. For example, some of your CPD might be about the skills you need to run a successful practice.

The focus of CPD for psychologists should be aimed towards positive outcomes and the benefits that professional development can bring you. Having a Personal Development Plan for wherever you are in your career now and whatever you want to achieve can be useful. Your PDP should be personal to you. Once under way, it is important for the PDP to be reviewed regularly to ensure that any learning has been applied in the individual’s work and the benefits and improvements acknowledged. Evaluating what has been achieved and what still needs to be done is important in gauging the effectiveness of the training or development and whether anything need to be adjusted in due course.

We hope this article was helpful. This article begins to outline the Continuing Professional Development CPD requirements for psychologists in the UK. You can find more psychology CPD courses here. For more information, please visit the CPD Industry Hubs for more CPD articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development.

Become a CPD accredited provider

Established in 1996, The CPD Certification Service has over 27 years’ experience providing CPD accreditation. With members in over 100 countries, our CPD providers benefit from the ability to promote themselves as part of an international community where quality is both recognised and assured.

If you are interested in offering training courses, seminars, workshops, eLearning, or educational events suitable for Continuing Professional Development, please visit the Become a CPD Provider page or contact our team to discuss in more detail.