One of the foundational aspects of life is learning. The Roman philosopher Seneca once implored people to continue to learn throughout their entire lives.
His most famous quote, in a moral letter to Lucilius, stated that as long as you are living, you must continue to learn how to live, and this tenet is the foundation of what we now know as continuous professional development.
Also known as continuous improvement training, CPD, as a philosophy has existed for a long time, but it is in more recent years that it has become a fundamental part of so many career journeys.
Many people are recommended CPD, whilst other employees request or even require it as part of their job role or to improve eligibility for promotions.
Where did the concept come from? How long did it take to germinate? And what was the flashpoint that turned it into a key principle of education?
Who Pioneered Modern Continuous Education?
The principle of lifelong learning has existed for as long as the concept of learning has, but the formal establishment of CPD establishments and qualifications began with the University of Oxford Standing Committee of the Delegacy of Local Examinations (now Oxford Lifelong Learning).
It was initially established to provide opportunities for people in social and economic conditions that precluded them from enrolling at Oxford ordinarily.
Naturally, there is a lot of overlap here between vocational qualifications, adult education more broadly and what we consider to be continuous professional development.
This extended further with organisations such as Workers’ Educational Associations, not-for-profit organisations that focus on providing adult education to people who otherwise could not access it.
Which Organisations First Pushed For CPD?
Whilst most industries expected the staff inside them to keep updated on new approaches, technologies and techniques relative to their profession, the approach was neither formalised nor transferable.
This only began to change in the 1980s, with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), The Law Society and the Institute of Chartered Accountants all beginning to install requirements of their members to participate in formal qualifications as part of their licence agreement.
All three organisations were part of rapidly changing and evolving fields, and the thought was that people who did not install lifelong learning into their surveying, legal and accountancy professions would be ill-suited for this modern professional world.
The problem was that, unlike today, extremely busy professionals were expected to add it to their existing workload, which often led to reluctant compliance and an uneven quality of training. It was a stick without a carrot.
Who Made CPD A Ubiquitous Part Of Career Progression?
Whilst a lot of hardworking tutors and professors can be thanked for establishing CPD itself, one of the biggest advocates for CPD as a concept was Jonathan Harris CBE.
Having been a longtime high-ranking member of RICS, even being President at one point, he saw the issue with time and established the Harris Foundation for Lifelong Learning in 1981, providing learning opportunities and materials for professionals with busy schedules.
This extended to several institutions that recognise CPD accomplishments and allow for particular skills and courses to transfer between industries.
