31/07/2021
CPD – Trillanes Law
It saddened me to read a Facebook lament of the difficulty endured by a professional in complying with the Trillanes Law CPD requirements. It goes something like, “with a heavy heart I am saying goodbye to my teacher’s license”
I am a license civil engineer in the Philippines and I am also a member of the Institute of Engineers Australia.
Just like the PRC, Engineers Australia also requires its members to attend some number of hours of CPD, (depending upon the status of one’s membership.)
CPD is indeed important in order for a professional to practice his or her profession with quality. As we all know learning is an on-going process. There is always something to learn. However, it should not become a burdensome to professionals in order to maintain their license status.
I think the solution to this apparent problem lies in the interpretation of “the number of hours of continuous professional development”.
In common understanding, we comply with the requirements by attending seminars, further studies, short courses and the like. That is, after attending such, you will receive a certificate noting the equivalent number of CPD hours obtained. For me this is a PAPER focus interpretation of the Trillanes law, and I believe this is where the difficulty comes from. It is not convenient and also it is expensive.
I think if we move from PAPER focus to SUBSTANCE focus, we can then eliminate the problem. In other words, we can comply with the requirement of the law without suffering much.
What I mean by SUBSTANCE focus interpretation is we comply the requirement of the law in substance, i.e. actually learning something. With PAPER focus, you focus on the certificate or the paper, regardless of whether you learn anything as long you can present a paper then the number of hours add up. With SUBSTANCE focus, a professional aims to learn something new with or without a certificate.
Engineers Australia CPD requirements, for me, is an example of SUBSTANCE focus interpretation of CPD requirements. A member can earn a CPD hour credit by simply reading an engineering article. They argue that by simply reading articles for say 1.5 hours per week, then this will be equivalent to 78 hours of CPD for one year, sufficient enough to meet the number of hours required. All we have to do is to so make a record of the number of hours spent and the topic read or learned. THERE IS NO NEED FOR A CERTIFICATE. The important thing is you learn something new which is the essence or substance Continuous Professional Development.
With the influx of information in the internet, one can find a lot of learning avenues to take in order to meet the CPD requirements. Read articles, attend webinars, watch YouTube presentations and many more.
