How to approach your continuing professional

development and future-proof your career

• What is CPD?
• What and how should
you learn?
• Recording and
submitting your CPD
• Learning support from
the EI

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Introduction 1

What is CPD…? 2

…And who is it for?

What are the EI’s CPD requirements? 3

The basics

How many hours CPD should I be doing?

What should my CPD cover?

CPD areas and topics

What types of activity count towards my CPD?

Types of CPD activity

What should I learn? 6

Making your CPD relevant

Reviewing your learning

Recording your CPD 9

The EI CPD template

MyCareerPath

Other formats

Submitting your CPD 10

How the EI reviews CPD submissions

Records not meeting the requirements

Mandatory registers

Learning support from the EI 12

The CPD logo

Further information

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 All professions – from doctors to lawyers, architects to engineers - require
practitioners to keep their knowledge, skills and practice up to date.

Competence – the ability to undertake tasks safely, efficiently and

effectively - is fundamental to professional life and indeed to a profession’s
reputation.

Energy is no different. It’s a vast sector, encompassing many roles and

specialisms. We energy professionals operate in a complex and fast
changing world; our roles are often demanding and carry considerable
responsibility – for the sustainable use of resources, for the environment,
Mike Adams CEng FEI for public health and safety and for producing the power on which society
Chartered Petroleum
so fundamentally depends.
Engineer; Chair, EI CPD
Panel A commitment to learning and development is all part of what being a
professional means in the modern world. As the professional body that
champions and supports those working within the energy sector and promotes good practice, the
Energy Institute places Continuing Professional Development (CPD) at the centre of its requirements for
individuals who wish to be professional members. Those who join the EI
are expected to make an ongoing commitment to maintaining and
developing their competence under the EI’s Code of Professional Conduct
and to supporting the development of others.

But CPD is about far more than rules and regulations. We believe that
continuous learning and development is an essential part of helping
individuals, their employers and the profession to be the best that they
can be. Learning and development is a positive experience in itself, one
that shapes careers and brings new opportunities, as well as job
satisfaction.

We all know that things can sometimes be tough in energy. Staying on top of professional practice,
adopting a curious, reflective approach to how we look at the world and our sector and making sure
we keep learning and developing, are key to employability and making the most of how we spend our
working lives.

We have produced this brief guide so that members understand clearly where the EI stands, what its
expectations and procedures are and why CPD is so important. Most importantly it provides guidance
on the things to think about to make CPD work for you.

If you have any questions, feedback or ideas on CPD, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with
members of the CPD Panel [email protected]. We will be pleased to hear from you.

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If you have already joined the EI as a professional member you will probably remember that you were
asked to demonstrate that you met particular standards of competence. You will have put together
evidence of your work, and made a case to show that you were meeting the standards for the type of
membership or registration you were applying for.

But competence is not a one-off event. It’s something that needs to be maintained and developed so
that you stay at the top of your game in a complex world, can move forward with your career and
meet new challenges.

This is exactly what Continuing Professional Development – CPD - is all about. It is any activity that
helps you maintain and develop your professional skills and competence.

One of the common misconceptions is that CPD is about courses, training

events and conferences. Formal events are relevant and often very
valuable, but they are just one way of developing your skills and
knowledge. There are many other ways of maintaining your professional
development. Indeed, the chances are that as your career advances you
will find yourself gaining more from personal research, experience and
collaboration with fellow professionals than from formal events. This is
often overlooked because it forms part of “the day job” but it’s a key part
of how we develop as professionals and you should take credit for it.

Another is that CPD is all about input. Supporting others by sharing your
knowledge and experience can also help you develop, refresh and reflect
on your own understanding. So, managing and mentoring others, helping them achieve professional
qualifications, or helping non specialists develop a better understanding of your area or energy in
general - all of these can be part of CPD.

We change and develop throughout our career, and so does the way in which we gain knowledge,
skills and experience. As long as it is relevant to you, your development needs and enhances your
professional skills and knowledge, it’s CPD.

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There is no great mystery about maintaining professional competence.

It’s something most energy professionals naturally expect to do as a matter of course, but the Energy
Institute sets out some basic guidelines to help you with the kinds of things you should be thinking
about when planning and taking forward your professional development.

As a professional member of the EI, you should be

• maintaining your CPD in a range of areas – your CPD shouldn’t be concentrated on one topic,
• maintaining a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of your CPD activities,
• undertaking a mixture of learning activities which:
o are relevant to your current or future practice,
o benefit the quality of your practice,
o benefit the users of your work (employees, clients, the public etc.)
• adopting a reflective approach to your development.

In addition to their membership of the EI, many members also hold

professional registrations that have been awarded by the EI under licence from
bodies such as the Engineering Council, the Science Council or the Society for
the Environment, or hold other approved statuses such as ESOS Lead Assessor.

If you hold one of these, you will need to bear in mind that these bodies have
their own CPD requirements, which you will also need to abide by.

However, if you are meeting the broad guidelines described in this booklet, you are demonstrating that
you understand what CPD is all about and are very likely to also be meeting the standards of these
bodies too.

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As a practising professional, you know your development needs best, so it’s up to you to make a
judgment about what your needs are, and what specific CPD would benefit you most (there is more
about planning your CPD later in this guide).

However you should make sure that the CPD you are undertaking is varied and balanced. In any given
year you should cover topics which fall within at least two of the following broad CPD areas.

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CPD can include any activity which has helped you to take forward your development as a
professional.

Again, it’s up to you to decide on the most appropriate activities to develop your skills and knowledge
according to the development needs you have identified, but these activities should also be balanced
and varied so you should be involved in at least two learning activities from the following in any given
year:

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As we have already said, what you need to learn can depend on a range of factors. This will often be
personal to you and your circumstances. Here are a few factors to consider:

Is your role changing? Are you working on new projects or areas? Will you need new
knowledge or to understand new techniques? Will you be working in a new context
that you need to know more about? Does some aspect of your performance need
more work?

Are you restructuring? Upscaling? Downsizing? Refocusing? Moving into different

markets? Using new technologies? If so, how are you affected? Will you need to
develop or update your knowledge and skills to keep up to date in the wider
organisation? How can you put yourself in the best position to stay effective and
make a contribution as things move forward?

What are the big trends and micro trends in the sector as a whole and in your part of
it? What do you need to do to keep your skills future-proof?

When was the last time you checked the standards of competence for what you do?
Should you now be considering other certifications or standards if you have
progressed or moved into new areas?

Has there been new legislation? What have been the big news stories and
developments that impact on your work? How is new technology affecting your work
– for example, methods of communication?

Do you want to move into a new area? Broaden your experience? Go for promotion?
What do you need to be able to know about or do to make the transition?

Are you planning to make changes in your life outside work? What do you need to
do to put yourself in the best position to make those changes?

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There are also a number of other reference points which can help you think about your development,
including:

• Professional competences – referring to the requirements of your current professional status

and registrations or ones you would like to work towards.
• Industry standards,
• Your organisation’s mission and strategy,
• Your job description and any appraisals or reviews,
• Trade press and specialist press journals, conferences and events.

If all of the above sounds like a lot of extra work on top of a busy day job then you are doing it wrong!

The purpose of CPD in the context of a professional body is that it should be highly relevant to you,
your job and your value to your employer.

Let’s be clear - you are not undertaking this learning in order to keep the EI happy. The EI’s role is
simply to help you organise, record and get the most out of your learning, help keep you up to date,
and where we can, to recognise your achievements. You are the primary beneficiary of these activities.

Your development is an integral part of your day to day life. Most of us already need to maintain
records, either to support annual appraisals, future promotions or to put into a CV - and all of us need
to stay on top of what we do to maintain our value as professionals.

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Ideally you should try and integrate your CPD into your annual appraisal or performance review if you
can. If your CPD and work objectives are aligned it will help you make a case for your employer to
invest in you, whether it be in time, funding or new opportunities for work which will give you
experience to help you achieve your goals.

Whenever you undertake learning or gain new experience, it’s important to take time to think about
what you have done and how it has moved you forward.

For example:

• What did you learn?

• How are going to apply your learning?
• Have you achieved your original goal or is there more you need to do? (Learning has a habit of
highlighting other gaps in your skills and knowledge!)

This is called reflective practice. Being a reflective practitioner is a skill in itself and it’s particularly
important in sectors like energy where practice requires a great deal of expertise and the situations
being dealt with on a day to day basis are complex. There is not necessarily going to be a blueprint for
everything you do. Working effectively comes from a mix of knowledge skill and experience, including
being willing to work as your own constructive critic, being open to new experiences and pushing
yourself beyond your comfort zone.

Reflection may lead you to feel that you need to undertake some further learning or explore new
areas. As time moves on your needs may be changing, so you will often find yourself back at the stage
where you are identifying new areas for development.

This is what you may have heard some people call the learning cycle, of planning, doing, reflecting and
reviewing. Making records as you go through this process will help your learning stick and keep you
focused.

What do you need to learn?

How are you going to do it?

The learning cycle

What did you learn?

How did your experiences Put your plan into action
develop you? what are the
implications?

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If you are a professional member, you should be keeping full records of your CPD as part of your
regular routine. The EI provides a range of tools to help you record your professional development and
think about your learning.

The EI CPD Template is a simple downloadable word template for recording your development. It
includes guidance on what to record, how to record it and what to think about to produce an effective
record in order to get the most out of your learning. You can download the template from the CPD
section of the EI’s website.

MyCareerPath is the EI's online professional development tool, which is free

to members. It allows you to plan and log your professional experience in an
easy to use electronic format. You can also use it to create reports to
summarise your CPD at the end of each year or quarter. Your CPD is all
stored in one place, so you can look back at what you have done previously.
You can access MyCareerPath on your account on the EI website.

We encourage members to use these tools to record their CPD, because they will help you record all
you need to if you are asked to make a CPD submission, but alternative formats - for example those
used by an employer or another professional body - are normally acceptable, provided that the
same information is covered, including evidence of reflection. In particular, if you don’t use the EI CPD
template, it is important that you check your CPD record includes:

• a brief description of your work role,

• your professional development goals,
• details of a range of learning activities, covering a range of topics, including a description of
what you learned and how you will (or already have) applied this.

Your CPD record needs to meet the CPD requirements set by the EI and any other body through which
you hold a licence through the EI. There is more information about our CPD requirements earlier in this
guide.

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Each year the EI contacts a sample of members and asks them to submit a record of their CPD activity
for the preceding calendar year – for example, in 2017 members were asked to submit records relating
to 2016.

If you are one of those selected to take part, we will let you know at least six weeks before the
deadline by which you will need to make your submission. We expect members to be keeping records
of their CPD as a matter of course, and so hopefully a request from the EI to submit records as part of
an annual CPD exercise should not present a problem.

There are a number of groups which, under particular licensing or other arrangements are always
included in the annual CPD request. These include:

• all new professional members who have now been with the EI for a year,
• those holding ESOS Lead Assessor status,
• those who are registered as a Chartered Scientist.

The CPD requirements are such that you should be able to meet them regardless of whether you are
currently in work. However, you can request an exemption for up to three years if you are

• on maternity leave,
• on long term sick leave,
• on a career break away from energy-related work.

If any of these apply to you, please let us know right away. Depending on the circumstances we may
instead request that you submit your CPD record in the next calendar year.

Following the deadline, the CPD Panel reviews the records which have been submitted by members.

This review is carried out on the basis of a sampling of submissions, and so not every record will be
reviewed, but each year the Panel endeavours to review as many records as possible so that members
get as much benefit as possible from the process.

The Panel reviews each record in accordance with the requirements set by the EI and/or the relevant
Licensing Body (depending on the member grade, title or registration status held by the individual).

It then aims to provide constructive feedback and advice. You may receive individual feedback on your
submission. Alternatively, you may be sent a copy of the annual CPD report, which gives more general
feedback and advice on submissions received in a particular year. Our staff team will also be happy
to provide information and advice, and discuss your submission with you.

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All members of the EI must keep their skills and knowledge up to date through undertaking CPD, but
the submission of CPD records is mandatory if you hold some particular types of professional
registration.

Those holding CSci status, and those who are approved to act as Lead Assessors for ESOS are required
to make annual submissions of their CPD.

Chartered Scientists

Under requirements set by the Science Council, Chartered Scientists must submit a CPD record on
request, and in years where they are not asked to submit a record, confirm in writing their ongoing
understanding and compliance with the Science Council’s CPD standards, including that they are
actively maintaining their competence.

ESOS Lead Assessors

Under the requirements set by the Environment Agency, all EI approved ESOS Lead Assessors must
make a CPD submission every year as a condition of their continuing approval to act as an ESOS Lead
Assessor. The Environment Agency has set a number of additional requirements for those that hold
this status, including a minimum number of CPD hours relevant to ESOS, and that two specific learning
objectives are stated each year.

If you hold either of these statuses, and we either:

• do not receive a record from you by the deadline for submission, or
• a satisfactory record is not received following individual feedback given to you by the Panel

The CPD Panel will refer the matter to the EI’s Professional Affairs Committee. This will normally be
with a recommendation that you should be removed from the relevant register, or in the case of
Chartered Scientists, should forfeit Chartered status. If this is the case you will be advised of the PAC’s
decision in writing, and provided with details of the EI’s Appeals Procedure.

Engineering Council Registrations

From January 2019, the submission of records of CPD on request also becomes mandatory for those
holding Engineering Council registrations. Under Engineering Council requirements, from 2020, if you
fail to submit a record on request, you risk removal of your professional registration following referral
to the EI’s Professional Affairs Committee.

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The EI offers a range of support to members looking to keep their knowledge and skills up to date in
the fast changing world of energy.

Professional Membership and Registration

We offer a range of professional titles, registrations and designations to help you demonstrate that you
are meeting the standards that the public and employers expect.

Training and events

We offer extensive training in a range of energy topics including oil and gas, safety, risk management
and energy management, and a full programme of industry events and seminars through the year.

EI Knowledge Service

Your membership includes free access to knowledge and research resources, including our Energy
Matrix, a constantly growing one-stop shop for information about energy topics including good
practice. guidance, policy documents and e-books

Branches and the Young Professionals Networks (YPNs)

Our branches and the Young Professionals Networks act as networking and professional development
hubs in the UK and beyond.

Energy World and Petroleum Review

Our monthly magazines, giving you access to the latest news

from the sector, including in depth features and interviews.

My Career Path

A free-to-members online tool for recording your

development towards qualifications, and your Continuing
Professional Development throughout your career.

You will often see this logo on the EI’s events, training courses, publications and
products.

The CPD logo indicates that the event, course or resource can count towards a
varied programme of Continuing Professional Development.

This means that it has been specially designed as a quality product to help
members in their learning and development. You should normally combine it
with other activities over the year to give you a good range of development overall.

We are happy to provide certificates for courses or events you attend with the EI – just email us.

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© all rights reserved, Energy Institute 2017.
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