CPD Requirements

CPD Requirements

CPD Requirement

What is CPD?

Rapidly changing legal, social and economic developments directly affect our working environment while technological advances radically change the way we carry out everyday tasks.

CPD (Continuing Professional Development) is an ongoing commitment to understand more about the environment in which you work, the job you do and how you can do it better.

CPD can be part of your own strategy to be a better practitioner or to simply feel more confident about your work and make it more personally fulfilling. It can be a step on the ladder to higher qualifications or enhanced career prospects. It can be part of meeting targets set by workforce performance management schemes or an opportunity for you to change and advance your career path.

 

Why is CPD important?

It is important for members to undertake CPD for a number of reasons:

  • To improve your professional competence for your own benefit and that of your clients, employers and others.
  • To enable you to demonstrate how you have sought to maintain your competence in the event of a claim or allegation.

You are most likely to be able to demonstrate that you have complied with the Society’s CPD Regulation if you plan, carry out and record an annual programme of learning activities designed to maintain competence and improve professional knowledge. It may be more difficult for you to demonstrate compliance if you choose another method.

 

New CPD Framework Launches Jan 2023

Throughout 2022, SCSI have run a pilot CPD Framework programme with a group of Members.  The Framework has been very well received by the pilot group too as, while it ensures compliance with all existing CPD requirements for both SCSI and RICS, it also provides a supportive structure to ensure that learning is relevant and builds on professional competencies that originate with the APC.

For 2023, our current CPD requirements remain unchanged:

Current requirements remain unchanged
·       Minimum 20 Hours CPD Per Year;*

·       Minimum 10 Hours Formal CPD;

·       Maximum 10 Hours Informal CPD;

·       Minimum 1 Hour on Ethics Every 3 Years;

·       Minimum 1 Hour Per Year Relating to your Designation.

 

From January 2023, it is recommended that Members use the new CPD Framework to structure, plan and execute CPD throughout the coming year.

Within your 20 hours, plan to: 
·       Complete 10 Hours of CPD relating to Core and/or Optional Competencies from your Professional Pathway;

·       Complete 10 Hours of CPD relating to Mandatory Competencies; or competencies from other Professional Pathways; or SCSI Voluntary activities e.g., APC assessing, counsellor, professional group member etc.;

·       Include a minimum 1 Hour on Ethics in your CPD;

·       Include a minimum 1 Hour on Sustainability in your CPD.

 

Further detail on the framework is included in this guidance document including definitions of formal CPD, informal CPD and non-CPD activities along with a summary of the competencies relevant to all pathways.

From January 2024, the Framework will be incorporated into compulsory CPD requirements and will also form part of SCSI’s annual CPD audit processes.

 

* Please note that Panel members that are included and act on the Society’s Dispute Resolution Panels are required to undertake and record an additional 10 hours per calendar year, specifically related to the field of dispute resolution.

 

CPD Regulation and Guidance

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) — Regulation and Guidance

The Council and Board of Directors of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland have recently approved new regulations in respect of members obligations with regard to continuing professional development (CPD). The new regulationsare aligned with the RICS as well as having regard to the requirements of the Registration Body and the Property Services Regulatory Authority.

The Society’s CPD Regulation is as follows:

Members of the Professional Body the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland are obliged always to comply with the CPD Rule of Conduct, Rule 2.5:

“Members shall plan, undertake, record and evaluate appropriate continuing professional development in accordance with the CPD Policy and, on request, provide the Society with evidence that they have done so in accordance with the Society’s CPD Policy and in accordance with Part 5 of these Rules.”

CPD Mandatory Requirements/Policy

It is a mandatory requirement for all members to use the SCSI MyCPD online recording tool to record their CPD activities.

All members must record 20 hours CPD per calendar year in accordance with the Society’s CPD Policy – New CPD minimum requirements with effect from 1st January 2018.

The CPD Calendar year runs from 1st January to 31st December each year and surplus CPD hours cannot be carried over into the next year.

Audit Process

100% of Members CPD records are audited for compliance on an annual basis.

Members have until 31st January of each year to upload any outstanding records to MyCPD in preparation for audit by the Regulation Department.

SCSI/RICS Dual Members:  SCSI monitor the CPD records of dual members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on their behalf.

Disciplinary Action 

Part 5 of the Society Members Professional Conduct Rules, Monitoring and Investigation Procedures, Disciplinary Rules and Procedures sets out the policy and procedures to be followed by the Director of Regulation in regulating the CPD Policy

Publication for breaching CPD Policy

The Sanctions Policy section 3 Publication of Regulatory/Disciplinary Matters paragraph 2.2 states:

“Where a Member has breached the CPD Policy on two occasions, within a five-year period, as provided for in Rule 5.2, the Society will publish on the Society’s website a list of members who are non-compliant for a second time. This publication to remain on the website for a period of one year from imposition of sanction”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

Recording Your CPD

All CPD and Life long Learning is self recorded and self certified. To assist you in obtaining and recording your CPD requirement, the Society provides:

  • An array of CPD and Training offerings for all members, viewable on the Society calendar
  • Personal Development Planner ,which can be used as a too to record your CPD and Training records
  • CPD and Training Resource centre, where you can access CPD notes, presentations and video recordings. to assist you in recording your CPD requirement.

 

Frequently Asked Question

The Society requires members’ CPD to be effective, enabling them to do their work competently. The outcome of the learning is as important as the number of hours spent on it. In general, it is recommended that a minimum of 10 hours per annum of CPD is completed, whilst having regard for the overall requirement of 60 hours in every consecutive period of three years.

Quality is as important as quantity. Make sure you gain from the activities and that they enable you to meet your learning aims.

Examples of activities Society members undertake for CPD are:

  • Professional work-based activities
  • Personal and informal learning
  • Voluntary or charity work
  • Courses, seminars and conferences

 

Keeping records of your learning activities is essential for you to be able to demonstrate that you have complied with the CPD Regulation.

A personal development planner, your firm’s recording system or equivalent electronic system can help you maintain your records effectively. Click here for the Society sample planner. If you are using your firm’s recording system, you should ensure that you keep your own copies of your records.

The Society would expect records to include elements of the following:

Planning

It is a good idea to set and prioritise learning goals and decide what actions you will undertake to achieve them. This will help you to target your learning effectively over the coming year.

Actions taken

Describe what learning activities you have undertaken to meet goals including: the type of learning, title, number of hours and date. The Society is looking to see that a variety of quality activities have been undertaken which have been tailored to the original goals.

Evaluation

Provide considered assessment of whether the learning has been constructive.

Reflection

Consider what further skills or knowledge might be developed because of the perspective gained from CPD.

Consider what further skills or knowledge might be developed because of the perspective gained from CPD. Back to top

Many different activities can qualify as CPD and you must decide which is the most appropriate for your needs. Members often mistakenly presume that CPD is restricted to formal training courses, seminars and workshops. However, you can undertake a wide variety of activity as part of your CPD programme. The table below will assist you in identifying ways to identify the best methods of CPD for you. Please note it is not an exhaustive list and should be regarded as constructive suggestions:

Method Example(s)
Formal events
  • Courses, seminars, conferences
  • Workshops and briefing sessions
Long-term qualifications and projects (six months or more)
  • Full-time study
  • Open/distance learning
  • Contribution to original research
Specific additional vocational/
professional activities (experience)
  • Secondments
  • Placements
  • Job changes/exchanges
Meetings, working groups or panels
(in-house or external)
  • Special working group
  • Course accreditation visits
  • Internal presentations/discussions
  • APC Counselling/Assessing
  • Board/committee participation
  • Day in the Life programme
Research publications and presentations
  • Research for publication and papers
  • Preparation for presentations
  • Delivering ideas to public meetings
  • Lecturing on careers/the profession
  • Presentation to clients
  • Internal discussions/presentations
Private study, structured reading
  • Assimilation of knowledge from various texts and references
  • Self-study on specific topics
  • Use of internet, audio, video or other multimedia resources and library
On-the-job development —
non-surveying specific
  • Special project work
  • Staff training
  • Developing transferable skills, eg languages, IT, business/financial skills
  • Management skills

 

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