Continuing Professional Education in Australia

This book offers a history of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the Australian context. It presents an approach that links the development of CPD to a series of 'missed opportunities' and the identification of three key themes (mandatory CPD, competencies and regulation/registration) as well as with national regulation for select health professions. It not only relates the evolution of CPD in Australia but also serves as a guide to examining the situation in other countries and the emergence of CPD in individual professions. CPD has been provided for many decades, but it has not been rated as a 'high priority' or a key area of provision and has not been the focus of discussions or disputes in the higher education sector or in vocational education circles. Nevertheless in describing CPD's development, evidence is presented that CPD has made a significant contribution to the broad field of vocational education.

Barrie Brennan grew up in Sydney and was the first member of his family to attend university. He completed a BA and DipEd at Sydney University. He taught English and History in secondary schools, primarily in rural areas. During this time he completed his LittB (re-named an MLitt) and MA (Hons) in the field of Educational Administration through distance learning at the University of New England. He was then appointed as an academic in the UNE's Department of Continuing Education. In the early 1980s, after overseas study leave, he became interested in CPE when a physiotherapist from Queensland enrolled in the UNE Post-graduate Diploma in Continuing Education in order to fulfil her role as the Co-ordinator of CPE for the Australian Physiotherapy Association in Queensland. This event marked the beginning of an exploration that involved Australia and its professions, culminating with the recording of how CPE became CPD and part of a national system for the registration of professionals.