Having completed the review and planning stage, you are now ready to start implementing your CPD action plan.  This is when you will start to reap the benefits of your initial work, as you will now have a clear sense of direction for your CPD activities.

A vital aspect of this stage is keeping a record of all the learning and other activities you do.  This is important because it will help you to:

• Check your progress towards your targets
• Ensure you have accurate information about your training and development for reference purposes
• Get credit for CPD activities other than formal training courses which you may not have previously recognised
• Provide evidence of CPD activity if required
• Prepare for performance appraisals
• Update your CV and prepare for job interviews
• Reflect on what you have done and start planning your future career development.

It is important to check that you CPD record represents a complete picture of all of the CPD you have undertaken.  You should therefore take care to include all unstructured CPD activities.  Although you should concentrate of planned CPD activities, you should always be able to recognise and use unplanned opportunities which may arise and include them as part of your record.

If you are involved in any activity which did not feature in your development plans but from which you learn something, record it and consider whether it applies to any of your specified targets or whether it may contribute to a new target in the CPD cycle.

Finally, it is also important to remain flexible and re-plan activities if your situation changes (eg if you start a new job which means that some of your planned activities may no longer be relevant whereas others may take on more importance).You should update your CPD record on a regular basis and list all of your CPD activities.  Entries in your record should show the following information:

• Type of activity
• Details of the activity such as title/subject area/venue/resource used
• Dates(s) of the activity
• Time spent on the activity.

As well as recording details of your CPD, you should also keep any certificates you receive for attendance at meetings or courses.‘Remember; mentoring and coaching also form part of CPD activities and should be planned and recorded.

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