Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is something as a childminder I am responsible for carrying out myself. There’s no wrong or right way to do it, no one to tell me what I should do, when I should do it or how often. This post is to provide some of you with further information on CPD for childminders which I hope some of you many find helpful as I know it certainly took me awhile to get my head round it when I first started minding in 2013.
What is CPD?
CPD is how you keep your working practices, skills and knowledge up to date. This can be achieved in many different ways and it is important you log it as evidence of continually improving your practice so you can show Ofsted.
CPD is anything you do that improves you setting, adds to your knowledge or increases your skills as a childminder. This could include:
- Reading childcare magazines or online articles.
- Professional discussions on childminding forums, Facebook groups, talking with other childminders face to face at playgroups or when visiting their houses etc
- Watching relevant news bulletins on the TV or listening to them on the radio
- Attending training courses or workshops
- Network meetings
- Staff meetings
- Completing e-Courses
- Updating your SEF (Self Evaluation Form)
- Making changes to your setting, equipment, resources etc
- Reflecting on your practice (self reflective practice)
Why is CPD important for childminders?
CPD helps to document and show your skills, knowledge and experience so you can understand more about your practice and evidence that you are improving. This process allows you to constantly strive to provide the very best start for the children you care for.
CPD is an on going process and is a requirement of the EYFS as well as professional memberships like PACEY. Undertaking CPD is a way to ensure you are complying with section 3.20 of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which states that:
“Providers must support staff to undertake appropriate training and professional development opportunities to ensure they offer quality learning and development experiences for children that continually improves.”
By documenting your CPD you can show the world how you are constantly learning and improving and this can be used as part of your SEF for Ofsted.
With access to free training courses now being cut by local authorities for many of us CPD is a great way to show that we are still undertaking training, learning new skills and keeping up-to-date with best practice and changes in legislation.
How much CPD should we do?
This question came up on a childminding group recently with one childminder saying we had to do 1 – 2 hours a week! Now this seems like an awful lot to me and I certainly don’t believe you should stress yourself out trying to cram in a couple of hours CPD each week just because you read it somewhere but you might actually surprise yourself with how much you’re already doing without even realising.
Personally I don’t set a minimum amount of hours for myself and instead just update my CPD log monthly with anything I may have done.
Depending on your local authority requirements to access the FEEE for 2, 3 and 4 year olds you may find you are required to do a certain amount of CPD hours so it’s always worth checking with them.
How can I record my CPD?
The process of CPD needs to be recorded to help you reflect upon and evaluate the learning which has taken place and how you will implement this new knowledge or skills into your practice.
I have two different sheets that I use to record my CPD for childminding which are available for you to download below. As I’m pretty much paper free in my setting though I keep mine on my laptop and type them up as I go. I didn’t print them off for my inspector during my last inspection but left it open for her to have a look at on my laptop and she was more than happy with this.
CPD Log Template
This is the template I use to record everything thing I do that can be classed as CPD. I spend around 10 minutes on it at the end of each month filling it out and total up the number of hours for that month. Download the PDF here.
Childminding Training Evaluation Template
I also have an evaluation sheet for any training courses, workshops or e-course I may attend. I don’t fill this in for every single course but use it when I feel like I’ve really got a lot out of a course and want to document this. Using a whole sheet means I can write more than the few notes I might write using the CPD Log sheet above. Download the evaluation template here.
It’s important to remember that there’s no correct way to go about your CPD and it’s essential you find a method of undertaking and logging it that works for you and your setting. If you have any questions about CPD and childminding please feel free to contact me and I can try and help or point you in the right direction.
Don’t forget to check out some of my other posts on childminding including:
- Food Allergens information for Childminders
- Early Years Outcomes vs Development Matters
- Teaching British Values in the Early Years
