Professional Development Certificate

The Institute's Certificate of Professional Development recognises an individual's commitment to enhancing his or her skills and knowledge in Consultation services and techniques.

To qualify for the Certificate, it is necessary to accumulate 100 credits by attending various courses offered by the Institute.

CPD Cert 2

There are two qualification routes:-

The Management route means attending the Making Consultation Meaningful (MCM - 30 credits) course and the Consultation: Before and After Masterclass (CBA - 40 credits), plus achieving sufficient credits from other courses or events to reach at least 100 credits.

The Operational route provides a more appropriate learning path for those whose main focus is on the practical activities of public participation. It involves attending the Basic Consultation Processes (BCP - 20 credits) course and four of our series of Effective courses from the following:- 

  • Effective Focus Groups
  • Effective Public Meetings
  • Effective Surveys & Questionnaires
  • Effective Deliberative Events
  • Effective eParticipation
  • Effective Participatory Budgeting
  • Effective Forums & Consultative Committees (To be confirmed)

Each Effective Course contributes 20 credits towards the 100 required to qualify for the Certificate.

Final qualification requires membership but credits may be accumulated and will be credited if joining at a later date.

Register of CPD Holders and maintenance of registrations
From January 1st 2009, there will be a Register of Current CPD holders, and in order to maintain this registration, it will, in future be necessary to attend at least one updating event every two years. Existing CPD holders, to acknowledge their early commitment to the Institute, will retain their status for three years - to Jan 1st 2012 without attending an update event, though we hope many will wish to avail themselves of these new opportunities to keep abreast of developments in our field.

Membership of the Institute must also be maintained to be included on the register.

Open Associates Programme

During 2010, we will introduce our Open Associates Programme – an opportunity more experienced CPD holders to become recognised among the most highly-qualified in the business of public engagement and consultation. For further details, please contact Elizabeth Gammell on 01767 318 350 or email elizabeth@consultationinstitute.org

In-house delivery
We will offer both routes for in-house delivery, normally on a flexible fast-track package where an organisation or Partnership can secure mass qualification for its staff over a 6-8 week period, whilst simultaneously strengthening team cohesion and inter-departmental working.