CPD & It’s Continuing Importance
The industry view of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) really shifted during the pandemic. Electricians having more free time on their hands, turned to upskilling themselves, but I think this has really highlighted how little training and further learning was being undertaken by previously. Competence scheme providers have long been advocates of CPD, along with industry groups, such as the E5 group regularly encouraging contractors to ‘level up’ by increasing their knowledge, but are we slowly heading back to where we were?
As a manufacturer in quite a specialised area, I have always seen CPD as an extremely important area of the industry. With new technology emerging so fast, electricians run the risk of being left behind if regular CPD is not completed.
Due to the pressures of working as an electrician, CPD gets put on the back burner, especially for small contracting companies and sole traders, who have to lose income to complete valuable training. I saw so many people on social media who made massive accomplishments in learning and training during lockdown, that during a normal period, would have been impossible.
The availability and suitability of free CPD opportunities is something that as an industry we need to address moving forwards. From my point of view, I feel that manufacturers have an obligation to offer CPD opportunities to anybody that wants to learn. There was been a massive increase in the CPD offered during the pandemic but this does seem to have decreased unfortunately or put behind a pay wall.
Working for a company that specialises in surge protection, my career has always has always centred around training and CPD. Before the 18th edition, surge devices were not widely used within most sectors of the industry, so my job entailed lots of educational talks, seminars, CPD events, appearing on industry podcasts and writing magazine articles. When lockdown happened and it put a pause on our in-person events, I realised that I could carry on delivering quality training on a virtual basis and that led to launching the free SPD Training Academy.
I was absolutely overwhelmed with the response and one live session a week quickly became a daily event! I have now trained thousands of electricians, specifiers, electrical consultants, lecturers and apprentices throughout every level of the electrical industry, all for free, without leaving my office. I have had some lovely feedback and my sessions have been met with such gratitude, that I think it has really highlighted to me the lack of free, understandable, CPD being offered throughout the industry.
We wanted to ensure that people could still take part in training, as the world opened back up, so we recorded 10 modules, all 10-15 minutes long, which breaks down all different aspects of SPDs. It covered everything from the basics of what an SPD does and how it works, through to installation and specific requirements, such as for solar PV. It is fully online, so you can log in and do the training session in your own time then contact me directly with any questions.
I would like to see more manufacturers offering CPD as a way to help the industry, rather than a sales exercise. I have given training to contractors and consultants that have openly told me they don’t use my company’s products. What is important to me, is that the education is there to ensure that the correct devices are selected and installed, that people understand the wiring regulations regarding surge devices, understand why they are being installed and they are being installed correctly – not what brand of SPD is being used.
I hope, going forward, we don’t forget the value of CPD and its importance to ensure that we, as an industry, stay relevant and up to date.
