Compulsory Professional Development - An unexpected side effect?
Not so very long ago, Survey & Spatial New Zealand (aka NZ Institute of Surveyors), the professional body for surveyors down here, bought in a compulsory CPD requirement.
Members are expected to gain anything up to 30 points or hours each year, some of which must be from the Institute.
Despite good and honest effort, this year I have only gained about half of what is required.
Yes, I could pad my hours with time spent here and on other internet sites, but I feel that would be disingenuous. I could also make the hours by spending up large ($2.5k inc fares & accom) to attend a 2 day conference - but there is only one half-hour session that holds any real interest
There is a 'non-compliance and review' procedure, but I am not motivated to engage.
The alternative is to let my membership go.
This would not bother me. Fortunately for me there is no requirement to belong. The cost ($550) is high and, as an individual, I dont think I get good value for my money. Over the years, the institute has become a corporate beast, feeding itself off the corporate membership.
But I do feel I am being forced out.
And I doubt I am the only one.
Is this really what was intended by that policy change?
I don't see it being good for the profession.
What say you all?
The planners and engineers have complusory hours (assume lawyers, accountants, doctors....). Always thought surveying was an outlier in that regard. A professional who is not continually learning is falling behind. If in a firm it's leverage to get some support with continued learning.
I include my time on here for sure in my return, some of my better learning comes off here! Especially enjoying BC Surveyors videos.
Full membership is very expensive for what you get I agree. Branch meetings up here typically very good and I serve on exec so that's a couple more points. S+SNZ still primarily a volunteer membership organisation so relys on member input to succeed.
Sign up to a SIT online paper (some business ones that look useful) that's pretty much free and will get your points up. Submit on District Plan changes etc. Find a junior to mentor. Claim the time when you ring up other firms/LINZ to find something out as it's all learning.
I listened in to the Global Survey webinar on Drone LIDAR today even though I see no likelihood of me using one anytime soon just to be informed about how the technology is progressing and in case I need to contract someone else in for a particular project.
The idea behind it makes sense, because regulations change, technologies improve etc. But most surveyors I know and have worked for are pretty stuck in their ways and generally do the same thing, day in, day out, with the occasional outlier job. It would be more interesting if there was a test to check that those attending have actually learned something and not just warmed a seat for a few hours.
From my experience in education, 80% of people just want to go through the motions and get by, learn just enough to function and not think too deeply about the hard questions. About 5% actually want to learn, they are the ones asking the hard questions, spotting mistakes and, more often than not, getting bored and realising that structured education isn't really education, it's conditioning. The fastest way to learn anything is one-on-one with a talented teacher that can answer questions and not just read out of the textbook.
I have a feeling you're one of those students that hated routine and actually wanted not just to learn, but to understand a subject, and being put through a routine is anathema when you don't have to do it. It would be nice if CPD could be accrued based on your professional practice, not just conferences and seminars. Many surveyors hate challenging jobs and pass on them but others love them because it breaks the monotony and you always end up learning something once it's all finished.
HiJim,<div>I know your pain, I'm in a similar situation. I however have been fortunate enough to offer my services to another firm free of charge to direct their staff on completing surveys under my guidance. This way, I am confident the surveys are correct before signing. </div>
There are many online courses that you can take inexpensively. I would go that route, they are normally painless and if you know enough to take the test you can often take it and score a passing grade.
Cant comment on NZ. Here, I need my professional license to make the business work. (I am one of the few surveyors that would present a cogent case for de-regulation of surveying.)
The board instituted CE units a few years back for surveyors (not engineers), and I think it is absurd. You are not supposed to operate outside your expertise, and you are supposed to educate yourself as a professional. If you do not do this, no amount of useless classes repeated over and over each year at the annual conference will make you a professional. It does mean that the annual conferences don't die on the vine, and maybe that was the point to begin with.
If I didn't have to, I wouldn't, but I do, so I shall.
Not so very long ago, Survey & Spatial New Zealand (aka NZ Institute of Surveyors), the professional body for surveyors down here, bought in a compulsory CPD requirement.
Wait... your professional society instituted continuing education requirement in order to stay a member? This is a voluntary organization and not anything to do with your licensing, right (I'm assuming NZ has a separate licensing body for surveyors)?
Membership of S&SNZ is voluntary.
But it would be hard to get a Cadastral Licence without it
While I wholeheartedly agree with continuous education and learning new things every day, I do not agree with it being compulsory. The places that have adopted it seem to have the same issues of complaint as those that have not. Maybe I am wrong about that and people can correct me. Most seminars available to me are similar to many that I have attended multiple times. Not saying that I know everything as I am very far from that but I learn better outside classroom environments.
The thing that makes me laugh is when guys choose to go to the same class or seminar 15 times and then turn around and complain about CEUs being pointless because they've seen the same class or seminar 15 times.
There's a nice variety of stuff out there if one looks for it.
