Continuing Professional Development(CPD)is the ongoing acquisition of knowledge, skills, and training aimed at improving and enhancing existing professional practice, and developing the personal qualities required in professional life.
CPD recognises that things change over time. Professional and technical information, research, legislation, and processes evolve over time in the planning profession. For professionals to remain competent in giving quality advice and service, these developments need to be continually recognised through relevant training, education and professional programmes.
Why Compulsory CPD for NZPI Full and GradPlus
Members?
Both the Institute and the general public (including employers and clients) must remain confident that its members continue to meet high standards as practicing planners. A CPD programme ensures, through an appropriate formal system and record, that planners are up-to-date with advances in planning thought and practice, and that each planner has debated and incorporated such knowledge into their own professional skills base.
CPD can include a wide range of learning activities related to enhancing your professional knowledge and skills.
What Counts as CPD?
CPD can include a wide range of learning activities related
to enhancing your professional knowledge and skills.
There are two main types of CPD that should be
pursued:
First, all planning and planning-related knowledge should be a core component of a planners CPD activities. This may include the dissemination of knowledge to other planners through seminars, lectures, publications and papers.
Second, all activities related to the development of general professional "non-planning" skills are also important. Such professional "non-planning" skills may relate to human relations, management, legal knowledge, financial management, and personal knowledge, skills and values.
How Many Hours are Required?
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Full/GradPlus Members: You are required to do 25 hours of CPD per year, if during the annual audit a Member is found not to have met this requirement, you will be given the opportunity to complete 50 hours over a 2 year period.
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Recent Full Members: Compulsory CPD starts from 1 January of the first calendar year after admission
What's Recognised as CPD?
Category One: Courses, Education and Training to develop knowledge, skills and values
- Development of planning related knowledge, skills and values that involves the identifiable development (to the Member) of new approaches, applications, values or techniques of direct application to planning;
- Education and training formal short courses, part-time courses, external courses, or conference programmes that consolidate or enhance planning knowledge, skills and values;
- Attendance at professional conferences (counts as seven hours per full day of attendance);
- Attendance at relevant seminars and workshops;
- Attendance at a hui;
- Attendance as an observer at significant Environment Court hearings;
- Participation in a study tour.
Category Two: Contributions to the Profession
- Research and analysis to investigate new areas of professional interest or planning concern - requiring preparation of a paper or report;
- Preparation of submissions on legislation etc, where this is not an integral part of the Members work;
- Presenting lectures and papers, CPD workshops, conference presentations
- Publishing articles and papers
- Mentoring Young Planners
- Involvement in planning-related professional committees for the planning profession, like professions, academic institutions or community groups
- NZPI Branch Office holder
Category Three: Self-directed Learning (Maximum 20% - 5 hours)
- Reading professional publications and court decisions
- Self-guided research via relevant websites
Category Four: Non-planning related courses to develop knowledge, skills and values (Maximum 40% - 10 hours)
- Development of general professional knowledge, skills and values through activities in a non-planning field contributing to personal development, for example human relations, time management, stress management, communication skills, conflict resolution, management skills
The above categories are deliberately general. It is largely
up to the member, as a professional planner, to allocate what
they consider to be appropriate CPD
on their NZPI
record. The emphasis should be placed on time
spent that enhances one's professional knowledge - ie. things
that one has learnt that improves
ability and conduct as a planner.
Please note that where the CPD is considered an integral part of one's work, the activity cannot be counted as CPD.
