Professional Bodies' Perspectives
'In terms of people who are interested in accreditation ... we have great difficulty in getting people to go for Chartered Manager. I had the idea that if we started getting people to build up in advance of applying, because they've got the habit like a diary, of going and recording their skills and attributes and qualities they've developed, when they finally decided to apply ... then you simply have it already there.'
Anne Jones, Chair of Reading CMI Branch (myWORLD Final Report p.19)
Related Links
Many professional bodies are now expecting their members to engage with an outcomes-based approach to CPD and to reflect on their learning in the workplace; they are expecting such reflections are held within an e-portfolio provided by the society and will be used to provide evidence for accreditation or continuing accreditation. Professional bodies such as the Society of Radiographers and the Institute of Physics are providing e-portfolios for their members to record and reflect on their CPD. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists is currently running an e-portfolio pilot in order to support CPD recording and evidencing and help meet CPD standards more effectively. The Royal College of Nursing offers a CPD template and framework which allows its members to reflect on practice and provide evidence of CPD. The Institute for Learning is introducing the optional use of e-portfolios to support the regulatory requirement for FE practitioners in England to undertake CPD.
he Institute for Learning has introduced REfLECT, its e-portfolio to support the regulatory requirement for FE practitioners in England to undertake CPD. The e-portfolio for staff CPD/PDP implemented by Thanet College mirrors REfLECT. Staff comments on using e-portfolios can be found at YouTube.
Findings from Flourish project
| Professional Body Contacted | e-Portfolio submission allowed | Restrictions on e-portfolio type | Comments |
| Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain | Yes | Only RSPGB tool permitted | Applicants working in an HE insitution with an e-portfolio not approved have to upkeep 2 e-portfolios |
| Chartered Society of Physiotherapy | Yes | None | Use of recommended e-portfolio system not compulsary |
| Nursing and Midwifery Council | Yes | None | Verbal reassurances given that any e-portfolio would be accepted |
| Certified Member of the Association of Learning Technologies | Yes | None | Variety of methods encouraged. Four applications from the wider Flourish team have been submitted to ALT and CMALT status conferred |
| Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals | Piloting e-portfolio submission | CILIP has shown an interest in the Flourish findings | |
| Higher Education Academy (Individual Route) | No | Applicants download a document from HEA website and fill it in |
As part of the myWORLD project, the Thames Valley Professional Institutes Partnership (TVPIP) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) saw the potential of e-portfolios to support professionals' continuing professional development. Maintaining an e-portfolio would allow members to record their CPD, set targets, and demonstrate how they have applied their skills. The resulting e-portfolio could be used to organise evidence to encourage applications for Chartered Management accreditation, as well for other CVs, job applications or own marketing.
"We chose to offer practitioners an electronic route to CPD because it offers some unique advantages - a personal and private space which is entirely under your control and which is easily accessed from home and from the work place."
Dr Jean Kelly, Professional Development Manager, Institute for Learning.
Taken from 'Effective Practice with e-Portfolios' (JISC, 2008)
There is an expectation that learners will be familiar with the process of PDP and the production of e-portfolios through their education and that they will be able to move their materials into e-portfolios provided by professional bodies. A 2005 JISC Study into the legal and records management issues relating to the concept of Lifelong Learner Records and e-portfolios offers a perspective from selected professional bodies on this.
