'I don't do CPD ?'

One of the reasons that I am in Australia is to speak at the e-portfolio conference in Melbourne (a sold out event), and to meet with potential partners and customers. The trip also gives me an opportunity to reflect on my own work on e-portfolios over the past decade and also inevitably on my own learning.



Reflections is a significant word to use because the process of ‘selling’ e-portfolios as a great way to capture reflections on the impact of learning on someone’s practice, is so often hindered by the fact that people claim not to know what a reflection is. It is not hard to help them recognise what a reflection is and unless they are incredibly arrogant most people do in fact reflect. Their initial response often means that it is a lot easier to say that they have attended a course, rather than identify how as a result of a particular insight on a course, or more usually a series of ‘learning episodes’ they started to change their practice.


I rarely ascribe anything positive to my early career as a social worker, it is not fashionable to either admit to having been a social worker never mind to have claimed to have learnt something from the experience, however one of the big pluses from being a social worker was the regular supervision which was all about reflection. I can’t claim to have captured all that I learnt, e-portfolios were unavailable then but what it did teach me was the importance of reflection.

Now there is a great way to capture those moments hopefully more people will recognise the CPD that they are engaged in.