Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is important because it’s about staying current, engaging in life-long learning that enhances your professional development and cultural competence. CPD challenges preconceptions and supports you to achieve good outcomes for the people you work with.
CPD addresses your learning/training and education and development needs, as identified by yourself, your employer, and/or your supervisor. The goal for your CPD is to build capability that aligns with the SWRB’s ten core competence standards.
Within your CPD log, which must now be completed annually, it is an expectation that:
- your CPD activities are linked to the ten core competencies and ensure that your practice remains current and relevant
- at least one of your CPD activities must address practice that supports your competence to work with Māori
- you have completed a minimum of 20 hours CPD during the year.
NOTE: You do not need to address all ten competencies every year, but you must demonstrate competence to work with Māori every year.
You have the option to include critical reflection in your log. However, providing evidence of critical reflection is no longer a requirement of the SWRB.
As a registered social worker, you should record your CPD in MySWRB. This tutorial explains what you need to do:
The CPD log is currently aligned with the Practising Certificate year which runs from July to June.
The SWRB audits five per cent of registered social workers’ CPD logs each Practising Certificate year. It is important you keep your log up to date on MySWRB and ready to be audited as part of this process. If you are selected as part of the five per cent, you will be notified by the SWRB.
Examples of CPD
Training, education and professional development opportunities that may address the SWRB ten core competence standards include:
- Post-graduate study
- Conferences / Workshops/ Courses
- Seminars /Webinars
- Research
- Structured visits to explore social work issues in another field, region or country
- Acting-up or taking on another role for a short period
- Scoping & developing a new programme of work or initiative
- Undertaking a service evaluation/audit
- Supervising student placements
- Engaging in journal clubs
- Planning & presenting a lecture / course / seminar / webinar / workshop
- Writing or reviewing articles or books
- Recording your practice (seek permission from your clients and agency first) and getting feedback
- Working Groups, for example, developing position statements, policy development, best practice guidelines or research
- Discussions about practise development or approaches to social work with social work colleagues
The following are not CPD activities:
- Supervision received or delivered.
- Training or education that does not address the SWRB ten core competence standards.
Logging my CPD
You can record your CPD activity in MySWRB. This creates your CPD log and provides the information the SWRB needs for the CPD audit.
You can find the login to MySWRB on the top right of your screen (desktop view) or at the end of the menu links (mobile view) or by following this link: MySWRB.
In MySWRB, there is a CPD tab for you to enter your CPD activities. In the CPD tab, click ‘Add CPD log’
- Fill in all your CPD information using the online form provided.
- Tick ‘complete’ to log each activity then ‘save and submit’
The online form for your CPD information asks you to enter dates, provide a description of the type of CPD and select which competence standards are addressed. You can refer to the SWRB 10 core competence standards to identify which competence standards are relevant.
If you have been selected for the CPD audit, please enter all your individual CPD activities and then click the ‘submit for audit’ button to let us know you have finished the process.
There is an option to record critical reflection of your CPD but this is not required by the SWRB.
The CPD log audit
Each year, the SWRB will be writing to 5% of all registered social workers asking to see their CPD log. The log must include the previous year’s record (1st July- 30th June) of CPD activities.
A satisfactory log will show that:
- your CPD activities are linked to the ten core competencies and ensure your practice remains current and relevant
- at least one of your CPD activities will address practice that demonstrates competence to work with Māori
- you have completed a minimum of 20 hours of CPD
Critical reflection is not reviewed as part of the CPD audit. It is optional to include this in your CPD log.
CPD log audit FAQs
Q: Why have I been selected for audit?
We select 5% of all practising registered social workers for the audit. It is a random selection.
Q: How will I know if I have been selected to have my CPD audited?
If you are selected, the SWRB will email you requesting your CPD log.
Q: If I am audited, when is my CPD log due to be submitted?
You should keep your CPD log up to date throughout the year. If you are selected for the audit, you will be advised of the deadline for completing your log for the audit process.
Q: How much do I need to pay for the CPD log audit?
There is no fee for the CPD log audit.
Q: What happens if I do not provide my CPD log?
It is part of your professional obligations to undertake CPD. If you are selected to be audited, you are required to provide your CPD log. If something has occurred that has prevented you from meeting your social worker obligations, let us know. If we do not receive a social worker’s CPD log, and have no explanation, the social worker will be referred to the Registrar. Failure to provide your CPD log over consecutive audits may result in disciplinary action.
Q: Is there a template for the CPD log?
All CPD must be recorded in MySWRB using the online CPD log form. This creates your CPD log.
Q: How do I submit my CPD log?
Enter details of your CPD activities into your MySWRB and confirm that they have been completed. This creates your CPD log. When you have entered all your individual CPD activities click the ‘submit for CPD audit’ button to let us know you have finished the process.
Q: What type of CPD do we accept?
We accept all types of activity that address the SWRB ten core competence standards. The type of accepted CPD activities can be seen in the Examples of CPD section above.
Q. Can I upload my CPD log in a pdf or Word document?
You must record your CPD activity in MySWRB. Using MySWRB enables us to automate the CPD audit. Uploading your log in a single document is not compatible with integration into MySWRB and would result in us manually processing the content. This change was first made for the 2022-23 audit following feedback from the sector about making the CPD process more efficient.
Q. What do I do if I haven’t completed at least 20 hours of CPD in the practise year?
You should still record details of any CPD that you have been able to complete and submit these for audit.
Q. Where can I find further assistance with my CPD Log or the audit review process?
If you have questions or need assistance, you can contact the Regulatory Team at applications@swrb.govt.nz or 0508 797 269. Additionally, you can ask questions at our digital Q&A sessions held by Zoom. These take place on Thursdays at 1 pm, accessible via this Zoom link.
