CPD Programme Terms & Conditions

Annex I

Terms and conditions

 

  1. The registration and annual membership fee will be set at €0.00. Fees will be reviewed every two years and must be agreed by the CPD Review Board.

 

  1. By taking part in the CPD programme Registered Participants, CPD REPs, Training Providers and CPD Trainers are agreeing to allow the CPD Administrator access to all information relating to them which is held on the CPD Management System. When selecting the CPD REP at registration the Registered Participant is agreeing to allow the CPD REP access to all information relating to their unique RP number that is held on the system. Registered Foresters on the Forest Service Register of Foresters agree to allow their CPD status to be displayed on the Register of Foresters.

 

  1. ) Where a forester transfers employment from one Registered Forestry Company to another, application must be made by the new employer of that forester for registration under these Terms and Conditions. The onus is on the Registered Forester and/or Forestry Company to inform the CPD Administrator of the termination date of the employment within 7 days of that termination.

 

  1. Data held on the CPD management system may also be used to provide feedback on other related topics.

 

  1. Individuals wishing to register on the CPD programme must hold a third level qualification in Forestry to level 7 or higher. Those listed on the Register of Foresters or are Technical Members of the Society of Irish Foresters are automatically eligible to register on the CPD programme and a unique ID will issue (RP[sequentially generated number]).

 

  1. Forestry professionals who are not on the Register can also participate in the CPD programme. These applicants must submit hard copy evidence that they are active in the Forestry Sector (within the last 12 months) and have at least a level 7 qualification in Forestry or a related field. The CPD management system will allow these participants to register before the documentation is provided. However, they will not be CPD certified until the relevant documentation is provided. In this way these “Registered Participants” can be notified of events, attend events and accumulate points. However, if documentation is not provided within 3 months of registration, registration is withdrawn and the process must be restarted.

 

  1. Non foresters such as ecologists and engineers for example who are working in DAFM’s forestry schemes cannot be CPD accredited under the foresters CPD scheme. However, they can register on the CPD scheme and take part in forestry CPD Events in the normal manner but the points attributed can only go towards their own professions CPD accreditation programme.

 

  1. On first registration participants are given 180 points; every quarter 15 points is deducted from their total (hereafter referred to as quarterly deductions); if participants go below 60 points they lose CPD accreditation. No deduction in points will take place during quarters which include periods taken off work for maternity leave, adoption leave, statutory block parental leave or statutory carer’s leave. The same rule applies to long term illness (greater than two months).

 

  1. Re registration of former participants can only occur 2 years after the date of cancelation, where the Registered Participant voluntarily canceled their membership. Where participants are reregistering after a period where their membership has been cancelled either through inactivity or having voluntarily cancelled their membership, the allocation will be 90 points.

 

  1. Training Providers can recommend points to be allocated to their courses; however, the CPD Administrator has the final decision on the points to be allocated. The default value for courses (Table 6) will be allocated after one week from the date of registration unless otherwise decided upon by the CPD Administrator. Where organisations disagree with points allocated to events after the events take place, these concerns can be brought to the CPD Review Board. The CPD Review Board, having considered any submission made, can decide to change or not to change the number of points allocated; the CPD Review Board’s decision shall be final

 

  1. A formal meeting of the Review Board is not necessary for all situations. A conference call can be organised or each member can be contacted by e mail and their views on a particular topic sought. Once the majority of members agree then the decision can carry.

 

  1. For Registered Participants attending courses such as Certificates (whether advanced or not), Diploma’s, Degrees, Masters or PhD’s, points will be awarded for each year of verified attendance. This is awarded when a full 12 months of attendance has been completed and attendance prior to CPD registration does not count. If on the final year and on completion of the course less than 12 months of attendance has taken place the full allocation of points can be awarded for that year. This verification should be scanned and e mailed to the CPD Administrator.

 

  1. For some CPD Events such as publication of a peer reviewed research paper which is not considered part of the “Registered Participants” day to day work, the CPD Administrator can assign a set number of points as he/she deems appropriate once the points awarded does not exceed 20. If the CPD Administrator considers the number of points warranted should exceed 20 then approval must be sought by the CPD Administrator from the CPD Review Board; the CPD Review Board’s decision shall be final.
  2. Registration of attendance must be done online before 12 midday two working days before the event takes place. Manual registration can take place after this deadline but only when the CPD Administrator is given an original Attendance Certificate which will be validated.

 

  1. The Administrator can send an observer to any CPD Event to assess the quality of the training etc. for CDP points.

 

  1. Registered Participants must ensure that the representative of the Training Provider (usually the CPD Trainer) signs their individual attendance sheet so that their attendance can be verified by the CPD Administrator and the relevant number of points allocated. It is up to the Registered Participants to scan the attendance sheet and e mail the image to the CPD Administrator in order to have points attributed to their account. Registered Participants must e mail their signed attendance sheet within one week of completion of the event, otherwise points will not be allocated. The onus is on the member to ensure that their attendance sheet is signed. The CPD Administrator will conduct random checks to test the system and verify claims.

 

  1. Where Attendants Sheets have not been submitted for whatever reason, original certificates of attendance or similar can be submitted by post if these are available (they will be returned within one month of receipt). These must be received by the CDP Administrator within two weeks of completion of the event and the CPD Administrator has the final decision regarding whether these documents can be accepted.

 

  1. Points can only be awarded for events completed after the CPD programme goes live.

 

  1. Points are awarded automatically to the Registered Participant one week after receipt of attendance sheet or original certificate of attendance (if acceptable to the Administrator) or similar. The Administrator can however, select individual attendances for random checks. This effectively puts a block on the awarding of points to the individual affected. For these cases the Administrator will aim to complete validation within two weeks of receipt of attendance sheet or original certificate of attendance so that points can be allocated thereafter.

 

  1. Registered Participants must attend at least 1 CPD Event per year, starting from the date of registration. If the participant doesn’t attend at least one event per year 15 points is deducted from their points total the day after the expiry of that year (hereafter referred to as annual deductions). This rule will commence on the 1/1/2017. No deduction in points will take place during years which include periods taken off work for maternity leave, adoption leave, statutory block parental leave or statutory carer’s leave. The same rule applies to long term illness (greater than two months).

 

  1. In the case of quarterly and annual deductions the Administrator may seek to have sick leave and other absences verified, usually through confirmation from employers but other appropriate documentation may be requested.

 

  1. Participants that fail to attend a CPD Event which has been designated as mandatory (in the context of CPD) will be deducted the points allocated to that event. Where a Mandatory CPD Event consists of two or more sessions/days all points will be deducted where any element of the course is not attended.

 

  1. If a course is to be designated mandatory, there must be sufficient allocation of resources to ensure that the course is delivered at multiple locations, spread nationally and repeated enough times so that it may be reasonably expected that all target foresters may participate.
  2. A stay on quarterly and annual deductions will not apply in the following circumstances:

 

  • Part-time work/Job sharing;
  • Holidays – including where taken immediately prior to or following maternity/adoption/parental/carer’s leave;
  • Retirement – where the member still wishes to retain CPD accreditation;
  • Redundancy/Unemployment – where the member still wishes to retain CPD accreditation for use at any point in the future;
  • Career Break/Sabbatical Leave

 

  1. The least amount of points that can be attained by Registered Participants is zero. “Registered Participants” can be at zero for any period without any additional penalties.

 

  1. Registered Participants must get the representative of the CPD Trainer to sign the CPD attendance sheet at CPD Events. For courses which have not been registered on the CPD management system by a CPD Trainer, for whatever reason, original Certificate of Attendance or similar may be submitted, once the CPD Event has been registered subsequently.

 

  1. Registered Participants found, to have made a false entry will revert to zero points for the remainder of the calendar year in which the false entry was confirmed plus two further calendar years.
  2. The CPD year will follow the calendar year.

 

  1. Once the Registered Participant attends a CPD Event that brings him/her above the 60 points threshold, the Registered Participant is considered CPD certified once the points have been formally allocated ie. one week after receipt of attendance sheet or Certificate of Attendance (accepted by the CPD Administrator) or similar unless the attendance has been selected for a random check.

 

  1. Any financial loss whatsoever that might arise directly or indirectly in attending or organising CPD Events shall be borne by the Registered Participants or the Training Provider as appropriate.

 

  1. Registered Participants can attend courses which have not yet been registered by a Training Provider. In these cases the Administrator will register these courses and assign points as appropriate once the appropriate information has been provided by the Training Provider. In these situations a Registered Participant must submit an original Certificate of Attendance or similar to the Administrator. The Administrator may decide not to register the course or assign points to Registered Participants for these courses. Course details and original Attendance Certificate or similar must be submitted within two weeks of the date of completion of the course, otherwise the course cannot be registered or points allocated.

 

  1. Course content and material must be posted to the CPD Management System by the Training Providers at the latest one week before the event is scheduled to begin. This material will be available to all Registered Participants. However, if training Providers want to influence the CPD Administrator in terms of the points that can be assigned, course content and material should be posted to the CPD Management System at the time of event registration. If there is a delay in posting course content to the system or no course content is available it is more likely to be the case that default points will apply (Table 6).

 

  1. It is possible that points can be deducted after they have been awarded, if courses are deemed by the Review Board not to have been of sufficient quality to merit the points awarded in the first instance. Points may also be deducted if it subsequently transpires that a Registered Participant was not in fact in attendance at the CPD Event.

 

  1. Attendees must make themselves known to event organisers to facilitate attendance recording at events. Proof of identity may be required.

 

  1. CPD Trainer participation on the CPD programme can be suspended for a period of 6 months if badges are not provided where it is deemed by the CPD Administrator to be practicable to do so.

 

  1. CPD Trainers who cancel CPD Events after the 1 Week deadline for notifying attendees can be suspended for a period of 6 months from the CPD Programme by the CPD Administrator following due process. This decision may be appealed to the CPD Review Board whose decision will be final.

 

  1. Informal events such as meetings, on the job training or literature reviews are not regarded as CPD Events.

 

  1. Where the attendance verification process cannot confirm that a Registered Participant has attended the CPD Event in question, the Registered Participant is asked to provide further proof of his/her attendance. This may include sample signatures from official documents, timesheets, written confirmation from the Company CEO that the individual was in attendance or any other material deem appropriate by the CPD Administrator.

 

  1. Registered Participants are responsible for keeping records of their CPD Event attendances; these may be required in any subsequent verification exercise.

 

  1. CPD Events must comply with the following event criteria:

 

  • The material or content must be directly relevant to Forestry Professionals;
  • Course presenters must have qualifications and/or knowledge and experience appropriate to the subject(s) being presented;
  • The presentation must be conducted in an appropriate location (i.e. proper conference / business / in-house facility/forest site);
  • The event must be at least one hour in duration; and
  • If electronically delivered, the event/activity must meet the criteria described in paragraph 43 and 44 below.

 

  1. The CPD Administrator has the final say on whether a proposed CPD Event has met the prescribed criteria. Where a CPD Event is rejected by the Administrator, it must be referred to a member of the CPD Review Board for confirmation. Once this confirmation is given the CPD Trainer must be notified within one week of the Event being registered that the event has been rejected. Full details as to why it has been rejected must be given by the Administrator.

 

  1. Activities normal to one’s profession are not considered appropriate either, e.g. the publication of technical papers by an employee of a research establishment; but where such activity is an add-on to normal work it may be considered.
  2. In considering whether or not to grant CPD points to eLearning courses and other electronically delivered events and activities, the CPD Administrator will evaluate the relevance of their content in the same way as other “CPD Events” (a-e above). In order to assess the level of active involvement required of its participants, the Administrator will examine the learning approach and structure of these electronically delivered events and activities. In this regard, to be awarded CPD points each eLearning course or module must:

 

  • Be generally well-designed (e.g. divided into individual lessons or units of reasonable length, require little or no scrolling within pages, be easy to read and navigate);
  • Be highly interactive, requiring regular interaction between the course and the learner (through frequent exercises, questions, links to websites or feedback etc.);
  • Incorporate a reasonable diversity of delivery approaches and/or media (e.g., appropriate combinations of text/slides, animation, pop-up pages, audio or video, attachments etc.);
  • Ensure that the module is designed so that individuals cannot bypass the learning material and go straight to the test;
  • Ensure that individuals spend a comparable amount of time completing a module as the accreditation awarded for the module i.e. if a module is accredited for a half day, then the module should take an individual 2-4 hours to complete, inclusive of the test;
  • Include computer-based testing to provide evidence that a learner has assimilated the knowledge and skills contained in the course (the question bank should contain a greater number of questions than the test in the event that a person fails the test and has to resit to ensure that a predominantly different set of questions is presented in a resit test);

 

  1. Events delivered using Web Casting and Web/Tele-Conferencing and similar technologies must:

 

  • Be transmitted ‘live’ (to allow for interaction between learner and presenter). Presentations which are not viewed/attended ‘live’ will not be accredited for CPD points;
  • Be generally well-designed and create a productive learning experience e.g. participants at remote locations must be able to hear and/or see the presenters, while simultaneously viewing the presenters’ materials e.g. slides or simulations;
  • Provide opportunities for all participants to put questions (verbal or written) to and engage in discussions with presenters during the event;
  • Provide a means for course organisers to verify those participating at each venue; to include verification that the participant attended for the full duration e.g. log-in and log-out confirmation;
  • Include provision of electronic or hard-copy confirmation of attendance for the full duration to participants; and
  • Include a minimum of a half hour of relevant learning.

 

  1. Registered Participants who attain a new qualification must submit proof of this qualification to the CPD Administrator before CPD points can be accredited.

 

  1. Registered Participants who are inactive for 4 years from the date of registration, will be notified that their membership has been cancelled. If the individual decides that they wish to take part in CPD they can reregister.

 

  1. Feedback on training courses will only be visible to the CPD Administrator, the CPD trainer associated with the course and, where necessary, the CPD Review Board. Feedback may be used by the CPD Administrator to address any issues arising and can be referred to the training provider to ensure that courses could be improved in the future.

 

  1. The CPD REP status can only be assigned when the application is accompanied by a letter of confirmation from the CEO of the Company and a hard copy application form. CPD Reps do not necessarily have to be Registered Participant.

 

  1. The CPD board would be appointed by the Council of the Society of Irish Foresters. Members would serve a three year term of office and can be reappointed with their agreement.

 

  1. Withdrawal of CPD accreditation will require CPD Review Board approval;

 

  1. Changes to the terms and conditions of the CPD programme must be agreed by the Board.

 

  1. The Review Board can recommend amendments to the terms and conditions of the Programme.

 

  1. The Administrator can send an independent observer to any event to assess the quality of the training etc. for CPD points. The CPD Administrator may decide to carry out an onsite visit themselves.
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