Posted on 5/11/2017 1:59:52 PM
Beginning in 2009, work began to amend the College’s Quality Assurance Regulation (O. Reg. 209/94). Following many rounds of member consultation and review, amendments to require mandatory continuing education and professional development came into force in April 2015.
The mandatory continuing education and professional development requirements have been carefully formulated by the Quality Assurance Committee and are now operational. A full description of the mandatory Continuing Professional Development Program description, the detailed requirements of the Program, is available on the College website.
The new CPD Program is designed to:
- promote continuing competence and continuing quality improvement among members;
- remedy gaps in knowledge and skills identified in members’ self-assessment;
- address changes in practice environments; and
- incorporate standards of practice and advances in technology.
The Program provides the opportunity for members to maintain competence through a combination of professional activities and participation in both formal and informal continuing education workshops and seminars.
The College wishes to thank the many Committee members for the time and careful thought they invested in the development process. It also extends its appreciation and thanks to all of the College members who participated in the various consultations and pilot projects over the past several years. Their input was invaluable. In addition, the College would like to acknowledge the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) for the work done by its Continuing Competence Committee whose extensive research and ideas were utilized in developing the CPD Program.
Members are encouraged to review the CPD Program requirements as soon as possible to ensure that they understand these new obligations, so that they can begin to record the activities for which they can gain credit.
The CPD Program permits members to undertake continuing professional development and continuing education in a variety of ways as best suits a member’s learning style and needs. Members will be expected to keep track of their CPD to ensure they meet the minimum requirements. The College is not prescribing how members record and track their CPD completion but this is left to each member to do so in a manner that best suits their needs. To assist members however, the College has prepared the following Tracking Tools for the convenience of members who may wish to use them:
1. An on-line Tracking Form that automatically calculates progress towards completion of the required CPD credits
2. Downloadable Tracking Forms that allow members to record their CPD activities
Members may wish to review the Frequently Asked Questions page posted on the Quality Assurance page within the Member’s section of the College website. It contains answers to many questions which arose during the development of the Program and will be regularly updated as to answer questions that arise once members begin to participate in the Program.
We invite any questions members may have about the implementation of the requirements. To facilitate timely communication, members with specific questions about the CPD Program are asked to email their questions to CPD@cpo.on.ca .