Why is Continuous Professional Development (CPD) important?

What is CPD?

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the process of collating your professional and academic experience to enable you to demonstrate, manage, and evaluate your own learning and growth.

Who carries out CPD?

As a Professional Member, it is a requirement for you to carry out CPD.

It is also important to note the benefits of CPD, even if you are not currently a Professional Member. Carrying out CPD allows you to reflect and therefore demonstrate your professional experience to others; this could be within the context of interviews, business opportunities and more. Carrying out CPD can be a great tool to understand your previous and current professional achievements and experiences and is therefore a great opportunity to plan your future professional development.

What Counts as CPD

CPD is not only about training courses, but can include many activities such as:

• Attending training courses (attendance only and examined courses both qualify)
• Attending online webinars (technical talks and soft skills, such as people management)
• Work based learning/on-the-job training
• Self-study material
• Writing and presenting papers
• Higher education (UK level 4 or above, such as an HND or degree programme)
• Technical Teaching
• Mentoring others

Institute specific CPD qualifying activities include:

• Contributing to a voluntary TWI or The Welding Institute Committee
• Acting as a volunteer assessor for candidates applying for Membership and Registration (e.g. performing application assessments & interviews or acting as an advisor/mentor)
• Acting as a volunteer CPD reviewer

Importance of carrying out CPD

As already established and as our Professional Members will already be aware, CPD is compulsory, The Welding Institute also believes that carrying out CPD is important for all of our Members in order to progress professionally and it is also a great way to keep track of all of your career achievements.

Recording CPD

As a Member of The Welding Institute, you are also able to access our online recording tool 'mycareerpath’ where you can digitally record, review and access your CPD records.

For further information about how our Members have benefited from completing CPD and for examples of different CPD activities they have undertaken, please see Andrew Halliday’s CPD Insight here.