Continuing professional development – amendments

to the College CPD scheme

Extract from an article in UKCFM (the UK College newsletter), September 2004

Bob Richardson, College Professional Standards Officer, writes: With effect from January 2005, the existing College membership requirements relating to CPD will change. The changes – first reported in UKCFM in February/March 2004 - are significant and will affect mediators and their PPCs. All are advised to get a copy of the new rules. They are on the UKCFM website – download document ‘Continuing Professional Development – scheme requirements (02/04)’

Mediators applying to renew their membership at the end of 2005 [renewal at the end of 2004 is according to existing rules] will have to show that they have undertaken 10 points of CPD [a point is generally an hour of study as now]. The current (ie September 2004) requirement is for 7 points. All the CPD points may be obtained entirely through any UK College Approved Provider of CPD [again, as now] and half must be, but half can be obtained in new ways based on a wider definition of CPD, including research, teaching, videotaping and analysing mediation sessions and writing articles for professional journals. Attendance at relevant Conferences, for instance run by ...... non-Approved providers [such as The Law Society, Relate, the Legal Services Commission] may also be counted. A major innovation that comes with this expansion of what may be counted as CPD is the new requirement that a mediator's Professional Practice Consultant [PPC] must approve the choice of CPD and, in particular, give prior approval to any CPD in the new category [i.e. any not run by an Approved Provider]…..

Underpinning all of the above is the Colleges wish to ensure that high standards are achieved and maintained and that mediators with their PPCs work together to those ends.