No. The CPD program is designed to support the development of registrant’s knowledge and skills thereby improving service delivery. This is considered an important aspect of quality assurance with regard to the practice of social work and the protection of the public who acquire the services of social workers in BC. It is hoped that over time this will contribute to enhancing the quality of social work delivered across BC and thereby raise the reputation of the profession.

There is no automatic link between your CPD and your competence. This is because it would be possible (although unlikely) for a competent professional not to undertake any CPD and yet still meet the College’s Standards of Practice. Equally, it would be possible for a registrant to complete a considerable amount of CPD activities but still not be competent to practise.

CPD is a way of learning and developing which ensures that you keep your skills and knowledge up to date and continue to work safely, effectively and legally. Therefore CPD is a means of seeking opportunities to develop your professional practice throughout your career by adhering to the College’s Standards for Continuing Professional Development as part of your ongoing registration.

Keeping your knowledge and skills up to date with progress and evidence in your field can contribute to more effective practice and therefore better outcomes for the recipients of the services you provide. It also ensures ongoing direct or indirect protection of the public and therefore can contribute to raising the public’s confidence and sense of credibility in the social work profession as a whole.

The College’s CPD Program is designed to be flexible in that learning activities can be selected which are best suited to your interest, preference, mode of learning, scope of practice, accessibility to resources and time constraints.

The program is designed to take into account the nature of your work place setting whether this is in direct, private, clinical, administration, education, research, management, policy or other settings.

The CPD Program requires registrants to engage in a mixture of learning activities. These activities can be located and selected from the following categories of learning activity (further detailed guidance is provided):

• Self-directed learning
• Work based learning
• Professional activity learning
• Formal/educational learning
• Other

All registrants must undertake a mandatory activity related to ethics.

We expect that you will provide evidence of engaging in a mixture of learning and development activities selected from the categories above and that your overall CPD portfolio will include a mixture of complimentary activities that demonstrate a progression in the integration and application of your knowledge, skills and values. As part of supporting you to understand the requirements of the CPD Program, the College will provide guidance and support materials alongside its current consultation service.

The CPD Program is designed on a model of self-directed learning so as to accommodate individual registrant’s learning needs. Therefore the vast majority of learning activities that you will involve yourself in will be self-selected. However there is a mandatory requirement that you engage in some learning activities related to Ethics as part of your overall CPD learning plan.

The College does not accredit courses or learning activities as part of the CPD Program.

The minimum amount of CPD you should undertake each year should be equivalent to 40 hours. This includes the mandatory requirement on Ethics which needs to be a minimum of 3 hours per year. The selected Ethics activity needs to include consideration of issues of ethical conduct and ethical decision making.

Ethics, which encapsulates ethical conduct and ethical decision making, is central to promoting the activity of social work in all of its forms and scopes of practice. This underpinning supports the realization of the social work ‘mission’ to ‘facilitate well-being and participation of people, promote social justice and economic justice, address structural sources of inequities, and eliminate conditions that infringe human and civil rights’ (CASW-ACFTS Accreditation Standards- May 2012).

Yes. As part of our current practice consultation service we will provide ongoing support to registrants. You can also raise any questions or suggestions on the CPD Program by emailing: info@bccsw.ca

Yes. We encourage wherever possible that a registrant’s personal CPD learning plan be negotiated as part of their annual appraisal plan (or similar) with their employer. We encourage that you consider and apply the College’s Standards for CPD as part of the objectives of an overall employer annual appraisal and development plan.

The College will be collecting data in order to determine fair and consistent auditing criteria to be applied in an audit process.

If you do not comply by October 31, the online register will show your status as ‘Not in Good Standing – CPD’ until the CPD requirements have been met.

No. In order to renew your registration, you are required to meet the CPD requirements before the registration renewal deadline of January 31.

Yes. The College will fully support registrants in meeting the Standards of CPD to a sufficient level by offering guidance, clarity and advice.