Into the Labyrinth: The Problem with Continuing Professional Development

Abstract

Family mediators practising in this jurisdiction — England and Wales — are required to undertake continuing professional development (CPD). This paper discusses some of the debates regarding ‘the learning society’, the post-training development of family mediators, some of the structural and pedagogical problems created by CPD and the conflation of ongoing education with mediation’s quality assurance and professionalisation projects.

A tentative categorisation of CPD types differentiates between the acquisition of new knowledge and consolidation of what is already known. However, if there is no distinction between forms of CPD, mediators may end up hindered more than helped, a point which may also be valid in other industries.

Keywords: continuing professional development, CPD, categorisation, mediation, mediators