The CPD term starting from 1 January 2022 has new regulations, please review this guidance document for more information.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a way for professional geologists to maintain and develop the standards of technical and professional competence required for their work. As well as broadening your knowledge, CPD gives assurance to your employers, and to society in general, that you are professionally competent.
CPD planning and recording is mandatory for all Chartered Fellows (for Fellows with CGeol and, or, CSci) and for Fellows aspiring to Chartership. Undertaking and recording CPD is also very strongly advised for other Fellows who are professionally active
About the scheme
The CPD scheme is a recursive, reflective system of: plan → act → reflect based on experiential learning.
It is flexible, to allow a range of activities to be recorded against personal set goals, solely time-based on hours (no longer a weighted points-based system), and made up of six main categories of activities:
- Formal learning
- On-the-job
- Informal learning or training
- Self-directed study
- Professional practice
- Other
Who should record CPD activity
As a Fellow of the Society who is a candidate for Chartership you need to show, through professional practice, education, training and participation within the geological community, that you are maintaining and improving your professional competency.
You can do this by recording any activities that demonstrate improvement and development of your skills. There are a range of activities which contribute to your CPD, from attending conferences to developing your business skills.
CPD doesn’t end once you have achieved Chartership. In order to maintain your chartered status, you must continue to record CPD activities throughout your career.
How to record CPD activity
Record your CPD activities in the MyGSL portal.
In MyGSL, log in and navigate to 'Manage CPD', then navigate to the 'Track your CPD' page.
*Please note that it is currently not possible to upload documents on the GSL CPD system in MyGSL. Please continue recording your CPD without uploading supporting documents.*
Tips
- If you are copying from another document, such as Word, use Notepad or TextEdit to strip out any formatting before pasting into the sections
- Do not use special characters in Activity and Goal title
- There will be a CPD Term tab for each year
- Start by adding Personal Development Goal(s), then add activities associated with your personal goals
- Target hours are based on your employment status, which can be edited in your profile
- If you are recording CPD elsewhere you can notify the Society by selecting the check box
- If you have recorded CPD using the previous online system (pre-2016), your activity will be in read-only format
- You can record CPD activity for the previous year until June of the current year
First steps
Personal Development Goals
To start recording activity, you need to add at least one 'Personal Development Goal'. Select the Personal Development Goal button, add a title (do not include special characters) and a description. Save the goal.
Activities
To add an activity, click the ‘Add Activity’ button. Your Personal Development Goals and the list of Activity types will show with associated radio buttons. Select the relevant fields to associate the Activity with your Personal Development Goal, then add dates, description detail and relevant documents. Save the Activity.
You can add more than one goal, and more than one activity against each goal.
To view the activity logged, navigate to the 'Your personal development goal' panel by selecting the downward arrow on the right hand side. You can also edit or delete the activity detail.
The graphs and targets track your progress, and are updated each time an activity is added.
Overall reflection
To add an overall reflection for the year, navigate to the bottom of the page and select
'Add' in the
'Your overall reflection for CPD Term YYYY' panel, and save.
CPD hours
It is recommended that you record at least 90 hours of CPD for each year if you are in full-time employment. A minimum of 30 hours must be from On-the-job-learning.
The remaining 60 hours (= 90 - 30 hours) of CPD should be spread across at least 2 of the other 5 new CPD categories.
View CPD categories and activities (see regulations: R/FP/13 section 5.2)
Planning
Start by outlining your aims and objectives for the year, record your CPD activities, and at the end of the year, add an annual review and reflect on what you achieve.
Each CPD activity should have:
- event date
- CPD category
- a brief description of the event, including a note of the provider (if it is a course)
- time spent
- evidence of participation - keep a record!
Your completed CPD should have:
- a statement of planned goals and objectives
- a summary of hours gained in each CPD category
- a short reflection on what was achieved
- an indication of which objectives were not achieved, and why
- a brief discussion of events undertaken that were not in the plan
Auditing
A number of Chartered Geologists are selected each year for an audit of their CPD records, in order to ensure that they are maintaining their records.
If selected, you will be required to present a written account of their CPD activities.
Other forms of Chartership
If you are a Chartered Scientist, you are required by the Science Council to confirm annually that you are maintaining your professional standards, using your CPD records. The Society takes responsibility for CScis who are also our Fellows, through our online recording scheme and annual audits.
We also provide this service for those who hold the European Geologist title (EurGeol), in accordance with the requirements of the European Federation of Geologists (EFG).
All working Chartered Fellows, including EurGeol, who do not fully engage with and complete their CPD annually, run the risk of having their Chartered and EurGeol status removed.
Exceptions
The CPD scheme is designed to take into account changes in your working patterns which may make it difficult or impossible for you to meet the usual targets set out. (For details, see regulations: R/FP/13 section 5.3 table.1)
Are you using an alternative scheme?
If you are using an alternative scheme to record your CPD (e.g., through your employer) please inform us by email [email protected].
You will need to repeat this for each year you use an alternative scheme.