The importance of CPD

The importance of CPD

 

In an ever-changing society where policy, procedures and regulations are frequently amended, CPD is becoming a more crucial part of being employed. Whether you are a manager or a practitioner (or even if you have nothing to do with childcare) read on to find out how CPD is relevant to you!

What is CPD?                        

CPD is a lesser known form of training, but one that is becoming increasingly more important in the workplace. Continued Professional Development (CPD) involves furthering the skills and knowledge that you gain beyond your vocational and initial training. The ways you go about furthering your knowledge can be formal or informal. It may be the case that your boss wants you to complete five relevant childcare courses online or they want you to accompany them to a workshop, which would be formal. Or it can be as simple as following nursery world’s articles on what’s going on in the childcare sector or engaging in professional discussion with a colleague, which is informal.

Why should I do CPD?

The benefits of CPD are endless, but here are a few key reasons why CPD could be beneficial to you:

  1. Helps safeguard your career and increase opportunities to progress

  2. Keeps your skills and knowledge up to date with current standards and theory of practice

  3. Improves self-confidence and customers confidence in your service

  4. Helps ensure you have met all the requirements of your qualification or registered governing body

  5. Can help you set and achieve your professional goals and ambitions

Taking part in CPD doesn’t have to be a chore or a time-consuming task, it can even be done from the comfort of your own home. As previously stated, reading online blogs (like this one!) and news articles about recent curriculum or policy changes are great ways to stay in the know with what's changing in your career sector. In Scotland, it is now mandatory for nursery staff to complete 90 hours of CPD courses over 3 years in order to maintain registered status with the governing body, demonstrating that the importance of CPD is greater than ever.  

Why should a setting provide CPD for their team?

A recent report from the Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) highlights the increased quality of childcare over the last 15 years and found that this was mainly due to ‘higher average staff qualifications’, amongst other things. The report goes on to state that one of the key characteristics of higher quality settings was that they provided ongoing staff training and CPD and had a lower staff turnover. CPD can be an important contributing factor when it comes to reducing staff turnover; when a company invests time and money in their employees, their staff, in turn, feel valued and more satisfied in their current role.

The easiest way to ensure all staff have access to regular CPD is to sign up to Azilo.com who offers over 130 courses online and receive a certificate of your learning. Azilo also allows you to upload certificates and keep track of all CPD completed offline or outside your workplaces such as face to face training courses, discussions with your colleagues, staff meetings and professional reading. 


Many thanks to Ally for this great summary about CPD, to find out more about their courses please visit their website at https://www.azilo.com.