The short answer
Continuing professional development, usually shortened to CPD, is the learning you do after your initial training or qualification, together with the record you keep of it.
It covers formal learning such as courses and conferences, and informal learning such as structured reading, mentoring and reflection on your own practice. What makes it CPD rather than simply working is that it is intentional and it is recorded.
Why it exists
A qualification describes what someone knew at a point in time. In most professions the knowledge base moves, the regulation moves, and the tools move. CPD is the mechanism the professions use to close that gap.
For individuals it is also the evidence trail. When a professional body, an employer or a regulator asks what you have done to stay current, your CPD record is the answer.
Who requires it
Requirements are set by professional bodies, regulators and employers, not by accreditation bodies like us. They vary widely: some set annual hours, some set categories of activity, some ask only for a reflective statement.
Always check what your own body requires before assuming that a given activity counts. Accredited CPD is designed to be recognisable, but the decision on what counts is theirs.
Structured and unstructured CPD
Many schemes split CPD into two kinds, and understanding the split usually explains their rules.
- Structured CPD is planned learning with stated outcomes and some form of assessment: courses, accredited webinars, assessed reading programmes.
- Unstructured CPD is self directed: reading around a subject, informal discussion with colleagues, reflection after a difficult case.
- Schemes that set a minimum for structured CPD are asking for the first kind, which is where accreditation is useful, because it makes the structure verifiable.