1. IMPROVING FACULTY
DEVELOPMENT: The
Importance of Continuing
Professional Development
Being a paper presented by Ayodele Samuel
Olatiregun
at a 2-day seminar held at
Collective College of Accountancy Ltd, Eleyele
On
Sunday, July 5, 2009

2. Paper Outline
 What is CPD?
 Who Participates and Why?
 Approaches to Professional Development
 How to view CPD
 The Process of Planning your CPD
 CPD Requirements for CCA Lecturers
 The CCA CPD Plan
 Free CPD Resources
 Conclusion

3. What is CPD?
 Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) or Continuing Professional
Education (CPE) is the means by which
members of professional associations
maintain, improve and broaden their
knowledge and skills and develop the
personal qualities required in their
professional lives.

4. What is CPD?
 CPD is defined as the conscious updating of
professional knowledge and the improvement
of professional competence throughout a
person's working life. It is a commitment to
being professional, keeping up to date and
continuously seeking to improve.It is the key
to optimizing a person's career opportunities,
both today and for the future (Chartered
Institute of Professional Development
(2000)).

5. What is CPD?
 CPD is defined as the holistic commitment
to structured skills enhancement and
personal or professional competence
 Note the KEYWORDS: Personal or
Professional

6. Who Participates and Why?
 A wide variety of people, such as teachers,
health care professionals, lawyers,
accountants and engineers engage in
professional development. Individuals may
participate in professional development
because of:
 an interest in lifelong learning,
 a sense of moral obligation,
 to maintain and improve professional
competence,
 enhance career progression,
 keep abreast of new technology and practice,
 compliance with professional regulatory
organizations

7. Approaches to Professional
Development
 In a broad sense, professional development
may include formal types of vocational
education, leading to a qualification or
credential required to obtain or retain
employment.
 Professional development opportunities can
range from a single workshop to a duration-
based course, to services offered by a
medley of different professional development
providers and varying widely with respect to
the philosophy, content, and format of the
learning experiences.

8. Approaches to Professional
Development (Contd.)
Some examples of approaches to professional
development include:
 Case Study Method - The case method is a teaching
approach that consists in presenting the participants with a
case, putting them in the role of a decision maker facing a
problem (Hammond 1976)
 Consultation - to assist an individual or group of
individuals to clarify and address immediate concerns by
following a systematic problem-solving process.
 Coaching - to enhance a person’s competencies in a
specific skill area by providing a process of observation,
reflection, and action.
 Communities of Practice - to improve professional
practice by engaging in shared inquiry and learning with
people who have a common goal

9. Approaches to Professional
Development (Contd.)
 Lesson Study - to solve practical dilemmas related to
intervention or instruction through participation with other
professionals in systematically examining practice
 Mentoring - to promote an individual’s awareness and
refinement of his or her own professional development by
providing and recommending structured opportunities for
reflection and observation
 Reflective Supervision - to support, develop, and
ultimately evaluate the performance of employees through
a process of inquiry that encourages their understanding
and articulation of the rationale for their own practices
 Technical Assistance - to assist individuals and their
organization to improve by offering resources and
information, supporting networking and change efforts

10. Approaches to Professional
Development (Contd.)
 Professional development is a broad term,
encompassing a range of people, interests and
approaches. Those who engage in professional
development share a common purpose of enhancing
their ability to do their work.
 At the heart of professional development is the
individual's interest in lifelong learning and increasing
their own skills and knowledge.
 The 21st century has seen a significant growth in
online professional development. Content providers
incorporate collaborative platforms such as discussion
boards, thereby encouraging and facilitating
interaction, and optimizing training effectiveness

11. How to view CPD
According to the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD), CPD
should:
1. be continuous - professionals should always
be looking for ways to improve performance
2. be the responsibility of the individual
learner to own and manage
3. be driven by the learning needs and
development of the individual
4. be evaluative rather than descriptive of
what has taken place
5. be an essential component of professional
and personal life, never an optional extra

12. The Process of Planning your CPD
The Institute of Administrative Management requires
candidates to complete the following:
1. Self-SWOT Analysis
This is intended to help the individual carry out some initial
thinking about his/her strengths and weaknesses. In addition,
he/she will need to think about possible directions for his/her
career development and to highlight potential threats
2. Personal & Professional Development
Development of your PPDP is based upon the individual’s SWOT
Analysis. Its purpose is to assist formulating a set of development
activities covering a period of twelve months. Long-term career
plans should cover development activities for the next twelve
months in the light of their intentions over the next three years.

13. The Process of Planning your CPD
3.Implementation
Implementation of the individual’s plan does not imply that they
cannot or should not change it once implementation is underway.
Situations and circumstances can and do change.
4.Learning Diary
It is vital that the individual records their efforts and assess the
benefits of their planned activities. The activities that they
undertake may not always generate the results that were
intended. Time spent reflecting on how they have tackled each
activity and in assessing the outcomes will enable the individual
to adjust their PPDP for the following year. Moreover, by recording
their activities they will be building a complete record of their
professional/personal development that can form the basis for
long-term career progression.

14. The Process of Planning your CPD
5. Annual Review/Summary
 At the end of a twelve month period,
individuals should review activities they
undertook during the year. The process is
then repeated for the second and
subsequent years by reviewing and
updating your SWOT Analysis and then
drawing up a new PPDP

15. CPD Requirements for CCA
Lecturers
 As a prospective Approved Learning
Partner (ALP), Collective College of
Accountancy Ltd has a performance target
to meet in order to achieve ‘Platinum
Status’.
 Each lecturer’s performance is to be
monitored and CPD is undertaken by
every lecturer so as to develop tutors’
technical and teaching skills.

16. The CCA CPD Plan
In order to achieve our CPD goals, the
College plans the following for our
lecturers:
 Hold In-House Technical Seminars
 Conduct ‘Skills Blocks’ Incentive Programs
 Subsidise Specialist Qualifications (e.g.
DipIFR, DipFM, CertIFR, CIA, CISA, etc)
 Begin publishing an Accounting Journal
 Establish a Mentoring Program

17. Free CPD Resources
 ACCA CPD Resources:
www.accaglobal.com/members/cpd
 IASPlus Rescources: www.iasplus.com