CPD for Assessors and IQAs: What It Is and Why It Matters

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development. For assessors and IQAs, it means any learning that helps you do your job better. That includes courses. It also includes reading, reflecting, and learning from colleagues.

If you work in assessment or quality assurance, you’ve heard the term before. It appears in job descriptions, professional standards, and awarding body policy. This guide covers everything you need to know. It explains why CPD matters and what actually counts. It also covers how requirements differ between awarding bodies. And it shows you how to plan and record your CPD well.

Why CPD Matters for Assessors and IQAs

CPD is not a box you tick once. It’s an ongoing part of your career. Research by the CPD Standards Office found CPD drove career growth for 90% of professionals.

For assessors, the job never stays still. Awarding body requirements change. Qualification standards evolve. Best practice shifts over time. An assessor who stops learning falls behind. That has real consequences for the learners they support.

For IQAs, CPD carries an extra weight. Your role is to maintain and improve assessment quality across a whole team. You can’t support other people’s development if your own has stalled. Read more in our full guide, Why Do Assessors Need CPD?

CPD also strengthens your career. It shows employers you take your role seriously. It builds your credibility. Over time, it opens doors to more senior positions.

The CPD Cycle: Plan, Do, Reflect, Record

CPD works best as a cycle, not a one-off event. Four simple steps keep it useful.

Plan. Look honestly at your current practice. Where are the gaps? What would make you more effective this year?

Do. Take part in the learning activity. This could be a course, a webinar, or a conversation with a colleague.

Reflect. Ask yourself what you learned. Ask how it changes what you do. This step is easy to skip, but it’s the one that matters most.

Record. Write it down. Note what you did, what you learned, and how you’ll apply it.

Then the cycle starts again. Your next “plan” step should build on what you just reflected on. Over a year, this turns scattered learning into real, visible progress.

Formal vs Informal CPD

One common myth: CPD only counts if it’s a formal, accredited course. That’s not true.

Formal CPD includes structured courses, webinars, and workshops. These usually have clear learning objectives. They often come with a certificate.

Informal CPD covers everyday learning. Reading a sector report counts. So does discussing a tricky assessment decision with a colleague. Attending a team meeting that covers a new process counts too. If it develops your practice, it counts as CPD.

The most effective approach combines both. Some assessors and IQAs prefer structured learning. Others get more from reflective practice. Neither works as well alone.

CPD Requirements: How Awarding Bodies Differ

Every awarding body expects ongoing CPD from its assessors and IQAs. Few of them set a fixed hours target. Instead, most ask for evidence of relevant, ongoing activity.

City & Guilds expects centres to keep assessors’ knowledge current. They don’t set a fixed annual hours figure. Instead, they expect centres to record CPD and produce it at audit.

TQUK asks centres to keep a CPD policy for every assessor and IQA. They expect centres to review it regularly. Evidence must be available on request.

NCFE takes a similar approach. Assessors should plan and record CPD, then map it to their role. Generic training hours don’t meet this expectation on their own.

The pattern across awarding bodies is consistent. They want to see:

• A CPD record you keep up to date
• Activity that’s relevant to your specific role
• Evidence you’ve reflected on and applied what you learned

Always check your own awarding body’s current guidance. Requirements can change, and different bodies word things differently. But the underlying expectation rarely changes: show ongoing, relevant, reflective activity.

CPD for IQAs and EQAs Specifically

An IQA’s CPD needs go further than an assessor’s. You’re not just keeping your own knowledge current. You’re responsible for the standard of an entire team’s assessment decisions.

Useful CPD for IQAs includes:

• Staying current with standardisation outcomes across your team
• Reviewing EQA feedback and acting on any patterns you spot
• Keeping up with changes to internal quality assurance requirements
• Developing your own feedback and coaching skills, not just your judgement skills

EQAs (External Quality Assurers) have a similar but wider remit. Their CPD often covers cross-centre standardisation and awarding body briefings. It also means staying current across several qualification types at once. If you’re an EQA, treat every centre visit as a source of CPD. Don’t treat it as just an assessment task.

CPD for End-Point Assessors

End-point assessment (EPA) is its own discipline, and its CPD needs reflect that. EPAO requirements, apprenticeship standards, and Ofqual’s recognition criteria all shift over time. They often shift faster than traditional vocational qualifications do.

CPD for End-Point Assessors should cover:

• Changes to the specific apprenticeship standards you assess against
• Ofqual recognition and regulatory updates relevant to EPA
• Grading and moderation practice, since consistency across EPAOs matters
• Employer engagement skills, since EPA often involves direct employer contact

Working across several apprenticeship standards? Note which CPD activity relates to which standard. This makes it far easier to evidence relevant, role-specific development at audit.

Examples of CPD Activities

Not sure what to log? Here are examples that most awarding bodies and employers recognise:

• Completing an online course or webinar related to assessment practice
• Reading awarding body updates, qualification handbooks, or sector guidance
• Attending standardisation meetings or team briefings on new processes
• Shadowing a colleague or observing another assessor’s practice
• Reflecting on a challenging assessment decision and noting what you’d do differently
• Reviewing feedback from an EQA visit and acting on it
• Writing up a case study or sharing learning with your team
• Keeping up with changes to a specific apprenticeship standard (for EPAs)
• Reviewing standardisation outcomes across your team (for IQAs)

What matters most is relevance. The activity should connect to your actual role. And you should say, honestly, what you learned and how you’ll use it.

Maintaining a CPD Record

Most awarding bodies and many employers ask you to keep a CPD record. This doesn’t need to be complicated. A good record captures four things. Note what you did and when. Note what you learned and how you applied it.

New to recording CPD formally? Start by looking back over the last few months. What have you learned? What challenged you? What would you do differently? Many professionals already did CPD. They just never wrote it down.

For a step-by-step approach, see our guide: How to Build a Strong CPD Log for Assessors.

You can also use the BIAP CPD Log Manager. It’s a dedicated CPD tracking system for assessors, IQAs, and EQAs. It helps you record, organise, and export your CPD in one place. You spend less time on admin. Read more in Introducing the BIAP CPD Log Manager.

Planning Your CPD Deliberately

Once you’ve got the basics in place, plan your CPD on purpose. Don’t just log it after the fact. Start by identifying which parts of your practice you most want to strengthen. Then look for learning, formal or informal, that closes those specific gaps.

This deliberate approach works best once you know the role well. By then, you know where your weaker spots sit. For a full walk through, read our guide: A Practical Guide to Assessor CPD Planning.

CPD for Assessors and IQAs with a BIAP Membership

The British Institute of Assessment Professionals (BIAP) is the UK’s dedicated professional body. It serves assessors, IQAs, and vocational education professionals.

BIAP membership gives you access to CPD resources and courses. You also join a professional community focused on raising assessment standards. Your dynamic CPD log fills in automatically with activity you complete through BIAP. You can add your own independent learning alongside it.

Whether you’re starting out or deepening existing expertise, membership gives you a structured CPD framework.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does CPD have to be formal to count?

No. Informal activities count too — reading, discussions with colleagues, and reflecting on your practice. They just need to be relevant to your role. You should be able to show you’ve reflected on what you learned.

What’s the difference between CPD for assessors and CPD for IQAs?

Assessor CPD focuses on keeping your own assessment judgement current. IQA CPD adds a second layer. You also need to keep your whole team’s standard consistent. That means CPD around standardisation, feedback, and coaching too.

Does CPD have to be awarding-body approved?

No. Awarding bodies want to see relevant, reflective activity. They don’t require every piece of CPD to come from an approved or accredited source. Independent reading and reflection both count, as long as you can show what you learned.

How many CPD hours do assessors and IQAs need?

Requirements vary by awarding body and employer, so check your specific body’s current guidance. Most don’t set a fixed number of hours. Instead, they expect evidence of ongoing, relevant, reflective activity.

Do I need to keep a record of my CPD?

Yes. Most awarding bodies and employers expect this. A simple log usually works well. Note what you did, when, what you learned, and how you applied it.