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Overview

Standard 6: Continuing professional development

Continuing professional development (CPD)

Social work organisations should prioritise continuing professional development (CPD) for their employees. They should ensure practitioners have time, resources, and support to access mandatory and optional CPD. This gives practitioners opportunities to develop knowledge and skills throughout their careers and helps them to practise safely and legally. 

Ensure that new practitioners are supported in their need to develop necessary skills. The Assessed and supported year guides development for social workers in adult social work. The Early Career Framework gives specific guidance for social workers in children and families social work. It covers the development they need to do more complex work. 

Social Work England requires practitioners to record CPD. They do this to show their employer, the public, and the regulator that they meet these standards. This ensures compliance with Social Work England's CPD professional standard. You should establish: 

  • effective induction systems when joining the organisation or changing roles 
  • tailored support for new practitioners, including protected time for development, managed workloads, supervision, and personal development plans 
  • mechanisms to recognise entitlement to formal and informal CPD 
  • equitable and transparent systems to develop professional skills and knowledge 
  • time and support for CPD so that practitioners can reflect on and document learning 

A health check asks practitioners to express their level of agreement with various statements about CPD including: 

  • the support provided to early-career practitioners 
  • if they’ve had the resources and guidance to develop skills 
  • if they had an effective induction when joining or moving roles  
  • if they have a regular performance review  
  • the availability of time, opportunities and support to engage in CPD and document learning activities  

Read more about Employer standard 6: CPD on the Local Government Association website. 

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The resources have been developed by Research in Practice in collaboration with DfE.
Published: 30 October 2024
Last updated: 30 October 2024