Keeping up to date

“By CPD do you mean Continuing, Continuous or Continual Professional Development?” The question is probably pointless. Perhaps the correct term should be Continuing Professional Development. Whichever you wish to call it, CPD is essential for any professional whether or not they really wish to keep up to date. Not wishing or not needing to keep up to date are not options.
A few weeks ago I was assessing some operations personnel airside at Glasgow Airport on a day which made landings difficult because of the strong crosswind. Every pilot got down safely, even if the approach maneouvres as seen from the ground looked a little like “white knuckle rides” at times. As I waited to continue my assessing I was reminded of the old adage that “A pilot is only as good as his last landing!” The same applies to surgeons, who are only as good as the last operation they performed, and also, alas, to trainers such as myself, who are only as good as the last course they delivered.

A British European Dash-8 maneouvres to land while buffeted by strong crosswinds at Glasgow Airport in January 2005

The Assessor standards now require persons who work as assessors to have a CPD programme in place in order to keep up to date. Many organisations such as CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) for example, have various programmes in place in order to update their assessors, including a newsletter unsurprisingly called UPDATE.
Assessors and Internal Verifiers could be well advised to join an organisation such as the Institute for Verifiers and Assessors http://www.ivalimited.co.uk. The organisation boasts a full programme of updating events and a lively newsletter. Go straight to it at http://www.ivalimited.co.uk/newsletters.htm for a lively discussion about Professional Discussion and the value of questioning. The IVA has been run by Lawrence Miles since its foundation and continues to be an important resource for trainers, assessors and verifiers.

Training professionals should consider ENTO, the Employment National Training Organisation and joining their Learning Network at http://www.ento.co.uk. via the ENTO website. When I searched the site recently I failed to find a copy of a Membership Application Form but this can be remedied by e-mailing sarahlewis@ento.co.uk. ENTO is of course the Standard Setting Body for all aspects of Learning and Development.
Attending updating events is only one version of CPD, but if you attend such an event you will return with lots of notes. The next question is: “Now that I have all this useful information, what do I do with it?” No rude suggestions, please! We shall revisit this question in the next issue of Heron News which should be online from early April.

Chris McAllister

Didn’t they do well?

We bring news of two young men who've come up in the world since they completed workplace qualifications through Chris McAllister Limited

Brian Colebrook from Whitehaven in Cumbria obtained his Assessor and Internal Verifier qualifications through ourselves in 2002-2004. He had been working for PCL Properties in his hometown as their sole trainer and as one of their two Internal Verifiers. Now Brian has a new job in Carlisle working from the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) Carlisle office as their OSAT (On-site Training and Assessment) Co-ordinator.
He has our congratulations on his promotion to new responsibilities. Although a journey to work and back is an 80 mile daily commute for Brian, he has no intention of moving his home and family to Carlisle at the other end of the County. This is because he is forever out and about on building sites, etc. and a relocation would not make much of a difference to his weekly mileage.

Similarly we deserve to congratulate Mark Bruce from Story Rail in Carlisle. Mark tells me that two years ago he was a humble plant operator when he first did his Assessor Award. Then he became Story Rail’s leading trainer with chief responsibility for training the workforce to maintain large sections of Network Rail’s permanent way. See Mark in action by going to rail.html. To assist in the training function, Story Rail have built a section of railway track on their Carlisle premises, complete with curves, points, etc. To equip himself for this role Mark first of all obtained a Level 3 in Training and Development through ourselves in 2004 and this year (2005) he has upgraded himself to a Level 4 in Learning and Development. He has now been promoted toTraining Manager for the whole of Story Rail, reporting directly to the Managing Director Ian Sewell.
Wll Done, Mark. See; we don’t just provide people with workplace qualifications. We also equip them to move up in the world!

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