Maintaining competency
In the face of COVID-19 and continuing market volatility, it’s hard to remain focused on Continuing Professional Development.
But you must.
As you know, to comply with your professional obligations, you will be required to complete (and be able to evidence) 60 hours of professional development for the period 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2020.
You can ‘read’ all the online articles in existence, but you won’t meet the requirements.
Within the FASEA Transition period, and consistent with FPS004 Continuing Professional Development Policy, you will need to:
- demonstrate ongoing professional practice competencies (i.e. Technical; Client Care & Practice; Regulatory Compliance and Consumer Protection and Professionalism & Ethics); and
- ensure that 70% of the CPD hours has been approved by the Licensee and is demonstrably
- measurable,
- appropriately assessed and
- leads to further qualification outcomes for participants.
To make God laugh, make a plan
This simple requirement has become more onerous, and even less likely of satisfaction, since the introduction of COVID-19 and government-mandated distancing and isolation. Attending education workshops will be at best challenging but, in all likelihood, impossible in the short to medium term.
Other professions, like the legal profession, have been more responsive to these changing conditions than FASEA. Most have applied a pragmatic approach and the NSW Law Society, for example, last week waived the cap on CPD Units completed via private study of audio/visual material.
We will be lobbying FASEA for a similar consideration but, in the interim, we’ve implemented a solution for you.
FASEA in their recent release, has acknowledged the challenges presented by COVID-19 and recommended that Licensees amend their CPD policies to consider extenuating circumstances. We agree, and recommend that Licensees amend their approach to include a greater focus on facilitated digital workshops.
We have converted our entire Continuing Professional Development Workshop calendar to a webinar format. This means instead of bemoaning your isolation, you can join us live, for 45-minute short, sharp practical session on one or more highly relevant topics, each mapped against FASEA’s requirements.
We have had great feedback to the various webinars we have run so far which include Fee Disclosure Fundamentals, Ethics, Privacy, Financial Crime Control and Personal Advice Fundamentals.
“FASEA understands that effective solutions are being offered by Licensee CPD programs that contain online learning as part of a led or conducted CPD program. Video conferencing and/or webinar technology options are appropriate alternatives to face to face offerings.”
— Guidance on CPD compliance arising from COVID-19 business disruption Mar 19, 2020
Without a plan, you plan to fail
Based on participant feedback for our 2020 sessions:
- 100% of our attendees have rated the webinars as meeting their expectations;
- 100% stated they were satisfied or very satisfied;
- 100% attained new learnings or knowledge; and
- 95% found our webinars highly interactive and the presenters knowledgeable.
Rather than succumb to cabin fever, why not review our catalogue and join us for an interesting conversation and expert-led facilitated training.
