Formal and Informal CPD Activities

Covering Assessment Criterion 3.3 from 5CO03, this video addresses the full breadth of CPD activity types that a people professional can draw on when formulating a structured learning journey. It distinguishes between formal and informal learning, a distinction that sits at the heart of good-practice CPD planning, and examines why limiting CPD to training courses alone misrepresents how professional development actually occurs. Formal activities covered include professional qualifications such as the CIPD programme itself, academic study, externally provided training courses, conferences and seminars including the CIPD Annual Conference, and internally structured routes such as secondments, rotations, and formal mentoring programmes.

The video moves into the informal end of the spectrum with equal specificity, examining stretch assignments, volunteering for unfamiliar project responsibilities, deliberate skills practice in areas such as facilitating meetings or analysing HR data, and the reflective use of everyday problem-solving and decision-making. Developmental relationships receive dedicated attention, with coaching and mentoring treated as distinct practices serving different purposes, alongside shadowing and peer learning through communities of practice and professional networks. On-job and off-job learning are both represented across these categories, reflecting the multi-dimensional mix that characterises an effective CPD plan.

Self-directed learning features prominently as a third strand, covering professional reading from sources including the Human Resource Management Journal and People Management, alongside digital formats such as webcasts, podcasts, LinkedIn Learning, blogs, and social media discussions and forums. The video also addresses the practical question of what constitutes a good-practice CPD plan and how to complete one, including the importance of capturing informal and work-based learning alongside formal activity records rather than treating only structured provision as valid CPD.