Using work based learning and accreditation to recognise continuous professional development.

Increasingly professional bodies require their members to maintain their skills and competences by undertaking Continuous Professional Development (CPD) during their career. This is particularly so amongst healthcare professionals, but may also be found in other professions such as management, engineering and education to name but a few. This paper will consider CPD within the healthcare field and extract some key principles that can be applicable to other professions. The notion of accrediting learning from experiential learning will be explored in relation to several case studies which demonstrate the applicability and flexibility of accreditation as used by Middlesex University’s Institute of Work Based Learning.