The uploading of non-verifiable CPD points accrued to a participant must accord with the Personal Development Plan submitted to the EAAB by that participant
Implementing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for estate agents
Approved CPD activities are divided into both verifiable and non-verifiable events with the following six categories of CPD activities having been identified by the EAAB for all estate agents, namely:
Education and Training (Compulsory – verifiable)
CPD points required: 15 points per year
Education and Training includes all education and training gained through acquiring the South African Qualifications Authority (“SAQA”) accredited qualifications and attending appropriate EAAB approved short courses, seminars, conferences and/or workshops where the focus is content specific and relevant to property general and estate agency in particular and includes the participation by estate agents as lecturers at such events.
The EAAB presently presents the required verifiable Education and Training CPD interventions for estate agents through both attendance at CPD contact sessions and/or by way of a CPD e-learning programme.
Professional Development (Elective – non-verifiable)
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points over the three-year rolling CPD cycle.
Professional development includes activities that contribute towards the development of the practitioner in relation to the estate agency and property sectors.
Corporate Social Investment (Elective – non-verifiable)
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points over the three-year rolling CPD cycle.
Corporate Social Investment activities have an internal sector focus and are undertaken to expand both existing and new enterprises within the sector. Activities having an external focus are undertaken to raise public awareness of the property sector or estate agency as a career pathway, source of wealth and store of value. Examples of corporate social investment activities include donating funds to charities, opening up internal schools for previously disadvantaged students, taking interns from previously disadvantaged communities.
Mentoring and Coaching (Elective – non-verifiable)
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points over the three-year rolling CPD cycle.
Mentoring and Coaching activities refer to activities where estate agents assume responsibility for the provision of guidance and the transfer of knowledge and skills to a protégé who might be an intern estate agent or a junior employee of the estate agency enterprise. Mentoring and coaching previously disadvantaged students, taking interns from previously disadvantaged sectors into service and so forth.
Reading and Publishing (Elective – non-verifiable)
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points over the rolling three-year rolling CPD cycle
Reading and Publishing includes the reading of appropriate and relevant estate agency related articles in magazines, scholarly journals, industry magazines, books and credible websites. It also includes the publishing of articles in the same sources.
Personal Development (Elective – non-verifiable)
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points over the three-year rolling CPD cycle.
Personal Development relates to activities which contribute to the development of knowledge and skills that might not be directly related to property and estate agency but that will grow the estate agent as a person, professional practitioner and sector leader.
External providers offering non-verifiable CPD interventions
External providers who intend offering interventions to estate agents for the award of non-verifiable CPD points are able to do so under any of the above non-verifiable headings. As indicated above Education and Training, which is mandatory for estate agents, is the verifiable CPD activity presented by the EAAB through both contact sessions and/or by way of the CPD e-learning programme.
The category of the non-verifiable intervention must be indicated
If a provider, for instance, offers a two-hour intervention falling under the “Professional Development” category, that provider would be required to issue an attendance certificate to attendees indicating that they have attended the event in question and, also, that each attendee has been awarded two non-verifiable CPD points in the category “Professional Development”. A synopsis of the particular event indicating its relevance to the non-verifiable category in question must also be provided to the attendee. It is important that, when awarding non-verifiable CPD points, the specific category of the non-verifiable intervention be clearly indicated as estate agents may only accrue five non-verifiable points under each of the non-verifiable categories over the entire rolling three-year CPD cycle. Any points accrued in excess of this requirement will not be credited by the EAAB for that three-year rolling cycle.
Maintaining and keeping a record of all non-verifiable CPD activities
It is the responsibility of every estate agent to maintain and keep a record of all non-verifiable CPD activities undertaken during each specific year of the rolling three-year CPD cycle. To this end, the certificate of attendance, and the synopsis provided, should be retained by the estate agent in a CPD Portfolio of Evidence as verification of the non-verifiable CPD activity and evidence of the accrual of non-verifiable CPD points. The Portfolio of Evidence will, furthermore, be used for verification and auditing purposes and will be routinely inspected by the EAAB inspectors as and when they conduct inspections of estate agency enterprises.
Acceptance by the EAAB of non-verifiable CPD points
While the EAAB will provisionally accept CPD points thus obtained, the accrual of such points will only be finalised after the EAAB has had the opportunity of satisfying itself, whether through inspections, calling for evidence or any other appropriate means, that such points were validly, reliably and honestly obtained and that they are indeed relevant in respect of the non-verifiable category to which they purport to relate.
Estate agents are not obliged to use the services of external providers for non-verifiable CPD points
It should be underscored that estate agents are not obliged to use the services of external providers when seeking to accrue non-verifiable CPD points. If, for instance, an estate agent wishes to obtain the five available CPD points over the relevant CPD cycle under the rubric of “Reading and Publishing” such person would be required, in the Portfolio of Evidence, to list the title of the book or learned article in question, the author’s name, when and where the book or article was published and details of the publisher, the date of publication and a summary of the content of the book or article indicating both its relevance for CPD purposes and how it impacts on the estate agency sector.
The uploading of non-verifiable Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points to the EAAB database
CPD participants are themselves required to upload all non-verifiable CPD points, which they have honestly earned, to the EAAB database.
To upload such accrued non-verifiable CPD points participants are requested to:
- log on to the “MyCPD” portal of the EAAB website [www.eaab.org.za];
- navigate to the “CPD points” menu;
- carefully ensure that the non-verifiable CPD points in question are properly uploaded for the correct calendar year (presently either for the 2015 or for the 2016 calendar years respectively); then
- click on the “Capture Points” icon which will take participants to the correct page to enable them to upload the non-verifiable CPD points in question.
The uploading of non-verifiable CPD points accrued to a participant must accord with the Personal Development Plan submitted to the EAAB by that participant
It is important for participants, when uploading non-verifiable CPD points, to ensure that the capture of those non-verifiable CPD points accords strictly with the undertakings provided by the participant in the Personal Development Plan (PDP) for the calendar year in question and which was submitted to the EAAB. Failure to do so will result in the participant concerned not being able to upload the proposed non-verifiable CPD points.
Tick the relevant “achieved” box(es)
Participants are, finally, required electronically to tick the relevant “achieved” box(es) on the “Capture Points” page once they believe that they have validly accrued the relevant non-verifiable CPD points. They should, in so doing, also select the correct number of non-verifiable CPD points to be allocated to them for the category in question from the far right corner of the menu.
Issued by: The Estate Agency Affairs Board
Date: 7 April 2016