Memorandum submitted by

Professor Matthew Harrison, the Royal Academy of Engineering

 

 

 

Summary

 

The engineering profession has moved towards being an M-level profession with a strong CPD culture. The teaching profession might consider some of the techniques used by the engineering profession to encourage a CPD culture.

 

Submission

 

1 Teaching is a profession that is currently going through a process of re-assessing the way it forms new teaching professionals. It appears to be following a path travelled by the engineering profession some years ago and lessons from the engineering experience might prove useful.

 

2 For many years, the status of registered (chartered professional) engineer required a combination of Bachelors Degree and professional experience. In more recent years, the academic requirement has been raised to M-level.

 

3 There is a strong acceptance amongst chartered engineers that CPD is a vital component of being an engineering professional. The Royal Academy of Engineering, who provide CPD of differing kinds to STEM teachers, observe that the teaching profession does not yet have this widespread cultural expectation.

 

4 The teaching profession might consider some of the techniques used by the engineering profession to encourage a CPD culture;

 

· University departments provide CPD courses for practicing engineers and this sets a cultural expectation in engineering undergraduates.

· Applicants for chartered status must keep a training log which turns into a CPD log over time. They are also mentored which is acknowledged as a form of CPD.

· Chartered engineers must be members of one of the Professional Engineering Institutions. These provide regular CPD opportunities and communicate these effectively with their members.

· On agreeing to adhere to the professional code of the chartered engineer, successful applicants must agree to undertake regular CPD -although it is acknowledged that this does not necessarily mean attending courses outside of the workplace - there are other forms of CPD such as personal research, mentoring, work shadowing etc.

· Many applicants fail to reach the standards required of the professional engineer therefore maintaining competence through CPD is acknowledged as necessary to maintain a hard-to-achieve status.

 

March 2009