CPD for the Professional

If you are a registered person with the South African Council of the Landscape Architectural Profession (SACLAP) you are required by law, as necessitated in Section 22 (2) of the Landscape Architectural Profession Act 45 of 2000 to meet the requirements and criteria of Continuing Professional Development.

• Keep up to date with the latest advances in the professional domain
• Develop deeper and specialized knowledge
• Broaden knowledge over a wider professional spectrum
• Improve general knowledge such as management, financial, communication/presentation and linguistic skills
• Keep up with latest ideas, technology, trends and related regulations

The SACLAP CPD Policy recognises six categories representing different areas of activities that contribute to skills advancement.

I – Category 1: Personal Professional Development

ii. Category 2: Further Studies

iii. Category 3: Research and Publications

iv. Category 4: Teaching and Training

v. Category 5: Professional Practice

vi. Category 6: Professional and Community Engagement

ILASA is a Voluntary Association (VA) recognised by SACLAP in terms of Section 25 in the Landscape Architectural Act 45 of 2000. As a recognised VA ILASA not only creates activities that can give registered persons the opportunity to earn CPD, but it is also has the mandate to validate Category 1 CPD activities or programmes.The ILASA CPD Committee will assess each application for validation.

If an activity, an event or short course, that has been arranged by ILASA warrants CPD credits, these will be displayed in the activity banner or invitation. Alternatively all ILASA and third party activities that have been validated are listed on the ILASA website under the CPD section. If the activity is arranged by someone other than ILASA you can ask the activity organiser to provide proof that it has been reviewed and validated by ILASA. A unique reference number is provided for each validated activity.

If the activity falls under Category 1 you should ideally encourage the organiser to apply for review and validation by ILASA before hand. Alternatively you could contact the ILASA CPD committee before registering to evaluate an activity for a once-off validation.

If you have attended an activity under Category 1 the ILASA CPD committee can assist. Send proof of your attendance, usually an attendance certificate and organiser’s description of the course content, with learning outcomes, to the ILASA CPD committee for review and once off validation. This service is offered at the discretion of the ILASA CPD committee and may require payment of a review fee.

SACLAP has mandated ILASA as a VA to only review and validate Category 1 activities. Registered professionals must ensure they have supporting documentation for activities under Categories 2 to 6 that they include in their annual CPD submissions to SACLAP.

The SACLAP CPD policy differentiates short courses under Category 1 as those “…activities not accredited by SACLAP, CHE or SAQA as Higher Education programmes”. Whereas short courses falling under Category 2 are “… activities accredited by SACLAP, CHE or SAQA” that “… relate to learning associated with obtaining a specific academic qualification”.

See the link “CPD Activity Validation”