Paul Sweeney Driving School - Continual Professional Development

At the minute CPD for driving instructors is voluntary, and should take up to at least 7 hours a year. However this will change, and it will soon become mandatory. So what exactly is it? In a broad sense it is:

• The conscious updating of professional knowledge and improvement of professional competence throughout a persons life.
• Commitment to continuously improve and be professional at all times.
• Owned by the individual, driven by their own learning and development needs.

It can take many forms such as:

• Spending time developing business skills.
• Attend local or national meetings or seminars.
• Networking with other driving instructors.
• Updating teaching or driving skills.
• Attending formal courses.
• Classroom based or in car.

Spending time to invest in keeping up to date with things that are happening in the industry is in my opinion a good thing. Most driving instructors are left to fend for themselves, we all need help from time to time, we are all human.

Most industries will agree once a person is qualified, that should not be the end of learning at work. Rather, it marks a new phase of professional development which is ongoing.

Courses and seminars attended this year:

• BTEC in driving science.
• AA Driving instructor training course (4 days) 17/11/2008
• DSA busines conference (8 hours) 18/3/2009
• AA marketing and advertising workshop ( 8 hours) 27/4/2009
• BTEC in driving science from edexcel (9 hours) 16/3/2010
• AA regional meeting (4 hours) 19/10/2010
• Core competence workshop (4 hours) 19/10/2010
• Psycological approaches to driver education (e driving solutions) (9
  hours) 19/9/2011