Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
A Guide for Education Providers in British Columbia
2024 Edition
Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3 Questions .............................................................................................................................. 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 How to Apply to Be a CPD Training Provider . ............................................................... 4 Competency Areas for CPD ................................................................................................ 5 Formal Training ..................................................................................................................... 7 Informal Training .................................................................................................................. 9 Submitting Training for Review ...................................................................................... 11 Verifiable Attendance ........................................................................................................ 13
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Introduction
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General contractors in British Columbia that are building single-family homes and small residential buildings under Part 9 of the BC Building Code, are required to complete Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This is a condition of their licence renewal. CPD enhances professionalism in the residential construction sector. Importantly, it gives homebuyers confidence that their home is built by a qualified builder to the highest industry standard. All licensees with general contractor status must complete a minimum of 20 CPD credits during the one-year licence term. Licensees will earn two CPD credits per hour of formal learning, and one CPD credit for an hour of informal learning. Licensees may carry a maximum of 20 extra CPD credits from one licence term to the next, if the CPD nominee stays the same. Education providers who offer relevant training for the construction industry as outlined in the Homeowner Protection Act Regulation, may apply to have their training assessed. The assessment will determine whether the training will be listed on the searchable BC Housing Education Registry .
There are four basic criteria for training to meet the CPD requirements
CPD credits earned per hour
1. Training must be relevant to the residential construction industry
Formal Training: 2 Credits Two credits are awarded for every hour of formal training.
2. The primary purpose of the training must cover at least one of the seven core competencies or Business Ethics 3. The education provider must ensure the training is verifiable 4. Training must be a minimum of one hour long to earn a CPD credit
Informal Training: 1 Credit One credit is awarded for every hour of informal training.
This guide explores these criteria in more detail and explains how training offered by your organization can be approved for CPD. When promoting training opportunities, it is important to note that BC Housing does not accredit or endorse education providers or their training.
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How to Apply to be a CPD Training Provider
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Once approved, BC Housing will supply a ‘seal of approval’ CPD logo that lets builders know that the training opportunity that you are offering
If your organization would like to become an approved education provider for CPD, you can email us at qualifications@bchousing.org. You must provide: 1. Name of your organization 2. How long you have been in business 3. Criteria for selecting instructors 4. How you intend to track attendance and verify course completion 5. Details about how exams/assignments are graded and how they are proctored, if applicable 6. A brief explanation about plans to market your course(s) and a link to your website BC Housing will review your submission to determine if your organization is suitable for providing either formal or informal training. Education providers may fit into one or both categories. Once an organization has been approved, you will receive an email which provides access to the education portal. BC Housing will reach out to setup an appointment to guide you through the basics of navigating the portal. You can use the portal to provide a description of your organization, assign users, and submit training for our review. Once you have provided a description of your organization, it will be visible on our Education Registry . In addition, BC Housing will supply you with a CPD logo, along with a guide sheet on usage. This logo conveys a ‘seal of approval’ and lets builders know that the course or training opportunity that you are offering meets the CPD requirements. The logo can be used for a range of online purposes, or on printed material associated with the recognized training.
meets the CPD requirements.
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CPD from Research and Education Development Competency Areas for CPD
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Training must be directly relevant to residential construction and have verifiable attendance.
To meet the CPD requirements, training must be directly relevant to residential construction and have verifiable attendance. The training must also align with business ethics or one or more of the seven core competency areas from Schedule 6 of the Homeowner Protection Act and Regulation outlined below: 1. Relevant enactments (including the purpose of the BC Building Code and BC Fire Code, including local bylaws), and how they apply to residential construction 2. Construction management and supervision , including project planning, cost estimating, scheduling, materials procurement, scope of work changes, contingency planning, site reporting, site safety and staff/ contractor management 3. Construction technology , including building durability, control of heat and moisture flow, building envelope features, mechanical systems and structural components, and the effect of climate and soil conditions 4. Customer service and home warranty insurance , including maintaining positive customer relations, implementing a customer service plan and responding to defects identified under a home warranty insurance policy 5. Financial planning and budget management , including financial projections, budgets, accounting concepts and practices, construction financing and credit arrangements, contingency planning for after- sales service, working with lenders, loan and collateral security measurements, and purchase orders 6. Legal issues , including contract and consumer protection law, the land title registry, obligations respecting insurance and home warranty insurance, builder liability, the Homeowner Protection Act and Builders Lien Act, dispute resolution, and the effect of provincial enactments and municipal bylaws
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CPD from Research and Education Development
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7. Business planning, management, and administration, including business vision, objectives and goals, operational planning, strategic planning, pricing and sales strategy, marketing concepts, change management and understanding different business forms (such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations, limited partnerships and partnerships of corporations) 8. Business ethics , topics such as corporate governance, reputation, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility, fiduciary responsibility, conflicts of interest, fair bidding, understanding and applying equity, diversity and inclusion principles in shaping internal policies, processes and business operations, and sustainable business practices A detailed description of the seven core competency areas, including the learning outcomes for each competency, can be found in our Core Competency Requirements bulletin . Learning outcomes state what a builder is expected to know, understand, and/or is able to show by the end of a training course. To determine whether a course qualifies for CPD credits, the training must have a clear connection to one or more of the learning outcomes. However, the training does not need to cover a competency area in its entirety. When submitting a course for review, the education provider may be asked to provide additional details to link the training to a competency area as well as the relevance to residential construction. Training that is linked to a competency that is relevant in multiple industries, should include examples and scenarios that are relevant to the construction sector in order to meet the CPD requirements. For example, for the Customer Service and Warranty competency, if the training is regarding providing quality customer service, the examples should be specific to the relationship between a builder and the homeowner or the warranty provider.
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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) | A Guide for Education Providers in British Columbia
Formal Training
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Two CPD credits are awarded for every hour of formal training.
Formal training includes structured courses or educational sessions that require verifiable completion of a graded exam or assignment. Formal training can only be offered by: • A university as defined in the University Act, the Royal Roads University Act or the Thompson Rivers University Act • An institution as defined in the College and Institutions Act • The Canadian Construction Gold Seal Program • The Canadian Home Builders Association of British Columbia • The Independent Contractors and Business Association • The Urban Development Institute of British Columbia • A local or regional association of one of the above organizations • An educational body or professional body, in B.C. or another jurisdiction, that the Registrar recognizes as equivalent in nature to the organizations described above • An organization, under the authority of an enactment regulates a profession
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Two CPD credits are awarded for every hour of formal training. Formal training requires successful and verifiable completion of a graded exam or assignment. If the participant does not pass the exam, they are still eligible to earn one CPD credit for every hour of learning under the informal category. The education provider must ensure that they issue the appropriate training certificate that specifies informal CPD. Quizzes can be used throughout a course to engage students and help them prepare for the final exam, however, completing a quiz at the end of each chapter does not qualify for formal training credits. To qualify for formal training credits, the education provider must administer their own courses and examinations. In some cases, the education provider may wish to use a third party to administer the training and examinations. In this scenario, the education provider is essentially acting as a vendor of the training for their members. This arrangement is permitted, but the training provided is only eligible for informal training credits. It is not considered formal training because the third party providers are private companies and are not regulated under any legislation, or noted in the Regulation as able to provide formal training. However, education providers can use professional exam platform providers (such as Meazure Learning/ProctorU) to administer their online examinations.
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Informal Training
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Informal training is offered by a broad range of organizations. This includes any of the organizations mentioned under the formal learning chapter. It also includes attending conferences, webinars or workshops that are relevant to the construction industry. Attending a professional or construction industry association meeting, can also be considered informal training. This occurs when the main purpose is to provide training in one or more of the CPD competency areas. Another type of informal training is a seminar provided by a manufacturer of a material or product used in residential construction. In this scenario, the main purpose of the seminar must be to explain the proper use or installation of the product or material. Tradeshow demonstrations and sales calls do not qualify as informal CPD training. Here are a few examples: • A home warranty insurance provider can provide a workshop on how to effectively deal with customer concerns or complaints. This qualifies under the Customer Service and Home Warranty Insurance competency. • A software provider might give a training session on accounting software to improve your bottom line. This qualifies under the Financial Planning and Budget Management competency. • An equipment supplier may offer training on the proper use of a dangerous piece of equipment, which may reduce the risk of injury and improve the company’s productivity. This qualifies under the Construction Management and Supervision competency. • A product manufacturer might offer a workshop on the proper installation of a new building material — which can help bring you into compliance with a new building standard. This qualifies under the Construction Technology competency.
One CPD credit is awarded for every hour of informal learning.
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Training from a service provider, supplier, or manufacturer may qualify for CPD if it meets the following criteria: • It is a nationally recognized chain store, or an independent supplier, or product manufacturer with an established market presence • It serves the construction market (not necessarily exclusively) • It employs staff who are knowledgeable about the products and can provide training • It provides training records to the participant to verify attendance One CPD credit is awarded for every hour of informal learning. Training less than one hour will not be approved for CPD credit.
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Submitting Training for Review
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All training must be submitted for review through the Education Portal.
You can submit your training to BC Housing for review to determine if the course meets the requirements of the CPD program and how many credits builders will receive for taking the training. All training must be submitted for review through the Education Portal. When requesting pre-approval, you will need to include the following information: 1. Course name 2. Course start and end dates 3. Total training hours 4. Attendance verification method 5. Training format 6. The most relevant competency the course aligns with 7. Detailed training description BC Housing considers the following when reviewing training submissions: • CPD credits are awarded based on hours of attendance by participants. This includes time spent in a classroom, workshop, webinar, or online training where active learning is taking place. CPD credits cannot be earned for meals and coffee breaks, registration, out-of-class study, examinations, or for completing out-of-class assignments • Training must be a minimum of one hour to receive 1 CPD credit • Credits for formal or informal CPD will be determined based on the structure of your organization, in addition to the presence of an exam component • Training must be relevant to residential construction, algin with one or more of the competency areas, and have verifiable attendance
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All training opportunities that meet CPD requirements and have been pre-approved by BC Housing are added to the Education Registry on the BC Housing website. The Education Registry features a comprehensive list of education providers that are pre-approved to provide CPD training to builders. The registry will show builders exactly how many CPD credits they will receive for each course. This gives builders the assurance they need before signing up and allows them to plan ahead for the year. BC Housing does not accredit training, and therefore we do not review training materials before pre-approving a course for CPD credits. However, we closely monitor complaints regarding pre-approved courses, and this may lead to a more thorough review of the training materials. We trust education providers to possess subject matter expertise and uphold high standards in the training they provide. Additionally, as an education provider, it’s expected that you will continuously review your courses to ensure they remain current and aligned with industry standards. For example, if you provide a course on building codes and there are subsequent changes to the codes, you must promptly update your course materials to reflect these changes. BC Housing reserves the right to remove courses from our education registry that no longer meet the program’s requirements.
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CPD from Research and Education Development Verifiable Attendance
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When offering online training or a webinar, education providers must use a training platform that tracks when the attendee starts and ends the course.
Training must be verifiable to qualify for CPD credits. It is the education provider’s responsibility to provide participants with a record of attendance. A participant who only registers for a course or seminar, but does not fully attend the session, is not eligible for CPD credits. In this case, the participant should not receive a record of attendance. Participants are required to keep records of attendance for at least three years in case they are audited. BC Housing can request training records from the licensee at any time to audit CPD participation. If the participant misplaces the attendance record, the education provider must be able to provide a replacement document to verify attendance. Training records are prepared by the training provider and should include the following: • Title of the course • The name of the individual who completed the course • A description of the training • Date the course was completed
• Name of the organization delivering the training • Learning method, such as classroom or online • Number of hours attended
• In the case of formal training, the documentation would also include a certificate (or something similar) that shows the participant passed a graded exam or assignment. The date on the certificate should match the date the exam was completed. When recording the number of hours, do not include meals, coffee breaks, registration, out-of-class study, taking an exam, or completing an out-of- class assignment.
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Online Training and Webinars An education provider wishing to offer online training must use an online platform that tracks when the attendee starts and ends the course, as well as their participation throughout the course. Online training that includes interactive elements such as mandatory polls or quizzes throughout the training will encourage users to remain attentive and engaged during the session. The student should not be able to bypass content or skip through to the end of the online training. Education providers who use a third-party vendor for online training must provide the vendor’s name to us when registering the course, to ensure their platform meets the above standards.
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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) | A Guide for Education Providers in British Columbia
Questions
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Contact the Licensing and Consumer Services team if you have questions on: • Applying to be a CPD education provider • Types of training accepted into the program • Submitting the training for review
• Using the education portal • Any other CPD-related items
Phone: 604-646-7050 Toll-free: 1-800-407-7757 Email: qualifications@bchousing.org
We also recommend that education providers familiarize themselves with the CPD program resources BC Housing offers to licensed residential builders. Please visit our builder licensing CPD webpage and view BC Housing’s Licenced Residential Builder’s CPD Guide for further details.
Email: licensinginfo@bchousing.org @RegistrarBCH www.bchousing.org
Phone: 604-646-7050 Toll-free: 1-800-407-7757 Fax: 604-646-7051
203-4555 Kingsway, Burnaby, BC V5H 4T8
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