As the first half term of the academic year draws to a close, many teachers are beginning to review their practice. Ongoing training can be a vital tool in improving teaching standards, which is why many teachers consider Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
However, it shouldn’t just be teachers considering CPD. As well as traditional school education, further education and higher education are also key components of the industry, with the entire education sector responsible for teaching skills, values and knowledge to people of all ages. This makes attending accredited CPD events a vital form of training for professionals across the industry.
What are CPD events?
At The CPD Certification Service, we’re often asked “what are CPD events and how can they help me?” Well, CPD events for teachers help those involved in education stay up-to-date with the latest trends, topics and information. Attending these CPD events can help you and your colleagues improve as education providers, improving your skills and knowledge and developing your professional capabilities. Helping learning become conscious and proactive, CPD events for teachers can create a structured, practical and methodological approach to learning, ensuring academic and practical qualifications do not become outdated or obsolete.
This is particularly important in education, where not only can the level of support provided be inefficient, but where standards can change continually. Fortunately, a new Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development was introduced by the Department of Education in 2016. This highlights what counts as CPD for teachers, outlining how it should be implemented within schools and organisations that provide teachers with professional development opportunities.
An Essential Business Education Resource
Accredited CPD events remain an invaluable educational resource for businesses and individuals alike. This is because they show that the training and learning activity undertaken have reached the required CPD qualities and benchmarks, ensuring integrity and quality. For individuals, attending accredited events helps show you how to become a more competent and effective professional. In addition, training and learning can increase confidence and capability, as well as complimenting any career aspirations, showing a commitment to self-development and professionalism.
For organisations such as schools, CPD provisions can produce a healthy learning culture, leading to a more fulfilled workforce and higher staff retention rates. By attending accredited CPD events, your staff members are learning from experts in their field, providing practical learning opportunities. Timescales can suit your employees, too. Some courses are only an hour long while others can take up to ten weeks (these are split into modules).
As well as this, having the training accredited for CPD allows attendees to use the learning time towards individual CPD requirements, helping them to up-skill. Providing CPD to all delegates helps support individual CPD obligations at professional bodies, such as teachers at schools, improving their best practice and teaching standards. This shows us that CPD events accreditation helps not only the learning provider, but the attendee and their employer, too.
Managing your CPD
A question we are asked often is how do I manage my CPD effectively? We consider one of the best and easiest tools to manage CPD is called the CPD Cycle. Essentially, the CPD Cycle is a useful tool that helps to structure annual Continuing Professional Development requirements so that the training you undertake is managed and organised effectively. Using the CPD Cycle helps make it easy to track and record your CPD learning and keep up to date with possible industry developments.
What is a CPD certificate?
Once a CPD educational event has been attended, the CPD provider will may available to attendees a CPD Certificate of attendance. The certificate should display the name of the attendee, title of the event attended, date of event, name of the CPD provider organisation, as well as the number of CPD hours of the event activity duration. The individual would then add their CPD Certificate of attendance to their personal record to support the further learning they have achieved.
CPD Events in Education
There are a number of CPD events available throughout the calendar year, with many options to suit each role in the workplace. Whether you work for a school, academic institution, art gallery or museum, you can find a relevant CPD courses, events and providers relevant for your Continuing Professional Development requirements.
