COACH UPDATE & CPD

As an instructor, coach, leader or guide you will recognise the importance of maintaining and updating your knowledge and skills to reflect current best practice. 

Paddle Northern Ireland is pleased to introduce the supportive points based CPD process. Aligned with our Educational Philosophy, CPD is individualised, allowing the Instructor, Coach and Leader to consider what areas they may need to develop.

The new process is simple, easy to upload and gives you the opportunity to recognise all of your learning and development, regardless of the source. During the recent period of restrictions, we recognise that many paddlers have engaged in many different ways for their learning and development online and these can now be recognised.

What is Continuous Professional Development?

Continuous Professional Development, CPD, is the process of maintaining and enhancing your knowledge, skills and ability after your initial training, so you can keep up to date and current with best practice.

Why is it important to keep your CPD up to date?

When instructing, coaching or leading, you are likely to look at your paddlers’ strengths and weaknesses, consider their aims and objectives and look at ways you can support their development. So why would we, as Instructors, Coaches, Leaders or Guides, not want to do the same for ourselves?

As part of your membership cover as an Instructor, Coach and Leader you have professional indemnity. To be entitled to have this extended cover, you need to ensure you engage in CPD, keeping you current and updated.

What counts as CPD?

British Canoeing Awarding Body’s formal qualifications and awards will count towards your CPD. When you take part in these formal courses your record will be updated automatically. Outside of these programmes, there are lots of informal opportunities that many of us will engage in without even realising it. Have you ever read an article, attended a webinar or observed someone coaching? Any these could be classed as CPD.

The great thing about CPD is that your development opportunities are directed and controlled by you. This means that you can pick the CPD that’s relevant and interesting to you, that’s delivered in a way that you find engaging and meaningful.

The CPD process makes it really easy to recognise these informal CPD opportunities, as well as making it easy to submit this information on your membership record.

In order for CPD to be updated, you need to have gained 20 points prior to your expiry date.

How do I get CPD points?

British Canoeing Awarding Body training courses and awards will automatically update your record with CPD points.

It will now be easier, simpler and more straightforward to use your learning and development towards your points, no matter where you undertake it. You can now upload any informal learning, simply, through your membership record and we are recognising that there are lots of learning opportunities that can have an impact on your instructing, coaching or leading. You can gain points through informal development opportunities, such as being a mentor/having a mentor, work based annual practice/refresher training or being observed by a line manager/coach developer.

This new system supports you to choose the learning that is right and relevant to your development. We recognise that many coaches and leaders have spent time during lockdown participating in online webinars or community of practice events, reading books or listening to podcasts. These can all count towards your CPD points!

The following tables show the range of CPD and their point value.

For the activities in the following table, you will need to upload the information on your membership record.