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CPD overload


Last year, I accumulated almost 230 hours of Continuing Professional Development, or CPD, hours.

This total includes:

  • The time spent attending professional events
  • The time spent managing the development of the Informed website
  • The time spent creating content for Informed, my blog, and other locations
  • The time spent providing professional training to others
  • Time spent mentoring Chartership candidates

While I was doing this stuff, I also:

  • Lost one job suddenly
  • Started two new jobs
  • Applied for 100 jobs
  • Prepared for and attended multiple interviews
  • Completed the time consuming renovations of my house
  • Read 67 books

This isn’t a humblebrag, it’s just an example of what’s actually achievable in terms of professional activity and involvement, with a bit of motivation and organisation. My total is well in excess of the average professional body CPD requirement of 20 hours annually (prospectively, 20 hours annual CPD will be a requirement for Chartered CILIP members, to Revalidate and maintain a Chartership). If I could fit in that level of professional activity, while my whole life was in chaos, then the lower 20 hours target is likely to be achievable for most. To be engaged with your profession, you don’t have to give up your personal life, you just have to want to develop your professional life

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Comments

Ruan Peat said…
I so agree, I wasn't doing my CPD actively and when I decide to log it retrospectively to see what I had I had over 65 hours, that was nothing special in my world. 20 hours in less than 30 minutes a week! a blog post and finding info to support it takes more time. If you are not doing that as part of your own job, then you need to rethink what your doing!
27 January 2014 at 11:08
Claire Sewell said…
Great post. I totally agree that you need to show engagement with your professional life. I'm very active in my CPD activities, to the point where I am often told that I do too much. Maybe I do, but I think that if you're going to spend most of your time working in a role then the least you can do is be involved in it.

As you show, CPD needn't be all about things that are going to eat into your time. By taking a 'little and often' approach you can log a lot of quality CPD time.
27 January 2014 at 20:28
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