Standard, practical guide and Portal help are different
The formal, authoritative requirements used to assess newly submitted courses.
Read the StandardPlain-language guidance, examples and templates to help you prepare evidence against the Standard.
Operational instructions for submitting, tracking feedback, managing your profile and accessing outputs.
Sign in to the Portal1. Start with a clear purpose
A strong course begins with a defined CPD purpose and a clearly identified audience. Before writing slides or choosing activities, be able to answer four questions:
- Who is this course for?
- What professional learning need or problem does it address?
- What should learners be able to do or understand afterwards?
- Why is the content appropriate for that audience and course scope?
“Leadership training for managers.”
“A practical course for newly appointed line managers who need to recognise common leadership approaches and choose an appropriate approach for routine workplace situations.”
Useful test: Could an assessor understand the intended learner, the learning need and the professional relevance without having to infer them?
2. Write measurable learning outcomes
Topics describe what a course covers. Learning outcomes describe what a learner should be able to do, explain, identify, apply or demonstrate after the learning.
“Understand leadership.”
“By the end of the course, learners will be able to identify three common leadership styles and select an appropriate approach for a workplace scenario.”
Use a simple test: Can you reasonably determine whether the learner achieved this outcome?
- Use observable or assessable wording appropriate to the course.
- Keep the number of outcomes proportionate to the duration and scope.
- Make sure every outcome is supported by the content.
- Where learning is assessed or evaluated, align the activity with the stated outcomes.
3. Build a coherent course structure
Your agenda should make the learning journey easy to follow. A typical structure may include context or introduction, core learning, opportunities to practise or apply, and a recap or conclusion. Longer sessions should show realistic breaks where appropriate.
Does each section build logically on what came before it?
Is there enough time for the stated content and activities without unrealistic compression?
Where appropriate, is there time to practise, discuss, reflect or apply?
Do the proposed hours reflect genuine structured learning rather than the total scheduled block?
Under Standard 7, genuine structured learning time excludes breaks, promotion, unrelated activity, administration and unsupported non-learning time. CPD Ireland determines the final approved CPD hours.
4. Make the content appropriate and current
Course content should be accurate, sufficiently substantive, professionally relevant and appropriate for the intended audience. Where currency matters, the evidence should show that the content is current.
- Use a depth and level suitable for the stated audience.
- Keep technical, professional, legislative or regulatory content current where relevant.
- Identify credible sources where a claim, model, statistic or requirement needs support.
- Avoid unsupported claims or presenting opinion as settled fact.
5. Demonstrate trainer or subject-matter credibility
The evidence should make it straightforward to understand why the trainer or subject-matter expert is credible for this particular course. Requirements vary with the subject and delivery model.
Trainer evidence will normally draw on relevant qualifications where applicable, professional experience, delivery or training experience, specialist expertise and evidence of current knowledge.
Keep it relevant: a focused bio that connects experience to the course is more useful than a long generic CV with no clear link to the subject.
6. Use learning methods that support the outcomes
Classroom, live online, self-paced eLearning and blended learning can all be appropriate. The question is whether the method supports the stated outcomes and gives learners proportionate opportunities to engage with the learning.
A course does not need to use every method. Choose methods because they help the learner achieve the outcome, not because they make the agenda look busy.
7. Verify participation appropriately
Participation evidence should suit the delivery format. Depending on the course, this might include attendance records, LMS completion data, webinar attendance, facilitated-session records or clearly defined completion rules.
Shows that the learner attended or completed the required learning activity.
Provides evidence of what the learner understood, applied or demonstrated.
These are related but not interchangeable. A sign-in record can show attendance; it does not by itself show that the intended learning occurred.
8. Assess or evaluate learning appropriately
Not every CPD activity needs a formal examination. The approach should be proportionate to the course purpose, outcomes and delivery format. Useful approaches can include knowledge checks, quizzes, case studies, practical exercises, observed demonstrations, reflective activities, scenario questions or workplace application.
Simple satisfaction feedback can tell you whether learners liked the course, but it does not always provide useful evidence that the intended learning occurred. Where the outcomes describe knowledge, judgement or performance, use an evaluation method that gives you a reasonable basis to consider that learning.
9. Gather learner feedback and use it
The current submission workflow requires a learner feedback / evaluation method. Keep it practical and linked to course quality.
- Was the content relevant to the learner's role or need?
- Was the content clear and the delivery effective?
- Has the learner's confidence or ability to apply the learning changed?
- What should be improved?
Feedback is most valuable when it forms part of a real improvement loop rather than being collected and ignored.
10. Design for accessibility and professional use
Materials and delivery should be usable, understandable, appropriately accessible and professionally presented for the intended audience and format.
- Use readable documents and slides with sufficient contrast.
- Provide captions or transcripts where appropriate to the format.
- Use accessible digital documents and clear navigation where possible.
- Avoid unnecessary complexity, dense layouts and unexplained jargon.
- Have a practical approach to reasonable learner accommodation.
This guide does not claim that a provider's materials are formally WCAG-certified. The evidence should demonstrate an appropriate and credible accessibility approach for the course.
11. Control your course version
Accreditation applies to an identifiable course version. Version control is therefore part of the quality evidence, not just an administrative label.
- Assign a clear version number or identifier and version date.
- Keep the version consistent across the submitted course pack.
- Record material changes to content, outcomes, duration, delivery or assessment.
- Know which version CPD Ireland assessed and which version you are delivering.
- Contact CPD Ireland where a material change could affect the accredited scope or evidence.
A materially different course may require review. The Provider Portal asks you to confirm that a submission is complete and represents the current course version.
12. Prepare your course pack
Your Provider Portal records the course title, delivery format, sector, intended audience, typical duration, provider-proposed CPD hours, course version, version date and a short course summary. You can enter most supporting information directly instead of creating duplicate documents, import supported details from an existing public course page, and start a similar submission from an existing course where that saves time.
Enter modules/sections and timings directly, import supported details from an existing public course page, or attach a supporting outline.
Add outcomes as separate structured items, accept/edit supported imported outcomes, or attach a supporting outcomes document.
Select the relevant trainer(s) from your private Trainer Library. Course-specific trainer evidence is optional where extra support is useful.
Give the assessor access to the substantive learning experience. Upload slides, a handbook, workbook or facilitator guide where appropriate, or add a secure review link for video, LMS or hosted eLearning. A transcript/caption file can be added as supporting evidence.
Describe how participation is verified. A standard provider method can be saved once and reused; a file is optional.
State whether an assessment exists and, where it does, describe the method, criteria and recording. Supporting files are optional unless they add useful evidence.
Describe how learner feedback is gathered. A standard provider method can be reused; a template/file is optional.
Use this only where it materially helps explain the course evidence.
Use what you already have: avoid uploading a second document just to repeat information already entered clearly. Reuse trainers and standard methods where they apply, import supported course-page details when useful, and use secure hosted review access for video/LMS courses where appropriate. Reusable methods and Trainer Library evidence are snapshotted when you formally submit, so later edits do not change the historical accreditation record.
13. Common issues that slow accreditation down
The following issues map directly to the current Standard and are the kinds of gaps that can make evidence harder to approve without further action:
The outcomes do not make clear what learners should achieve.
The agenda does not support the claimed duration or proposed CPD hours.
The course material does not clearly teach what the outcomes promise.
It is unclear how attendance or completion is established for the delivery format.
The method measures satisfaction only when the course claims knowledge, judgement or skill outcomes.
The submission does not make the trainer's relevant credibility clear.
Files, dates or version labels do not identify one consistent course version.
The required feedback/evaluation evidence has not been prepared.
An Action Required finding is not automatically a rejection. Where CPD Ireland releases an action, the established resubmission workflow allows providers to submit revised evidence while preserving the review history.
14. Accreditation Readiness Checklist
Work through this before you submit. It is a practical preparation tool, not a substitute for the formal Standard.
- Target audience and professional learning need are clear.
- Course purpose is clear and appropriate to the audience.
- Learning outcomes are specific enough to evaluate.
- Content and learning activities map to the outcomes.
- Course sequence and timings are realistic.
- Proposed CPD hours reflect genuine structured learning time.
- Trainer / subject-matter credibility evidence is included.
- Participation or completion can be verified where relevant.
- Learning is assessed or evaluated appropriately for the stated outcomes.
- Learner feedback / evaluation evidence is ready.
- Accessibility and professional presentation have been considered.
- Course version and version date are clearly identified and consistent.
- Required supporting files are complete and representative.
- Accreditation, CPD-hours and learner-certificate claims are accurate and not misleading.
Practical templates you can use before submitting
These lightweight text templates are intentionally simple: download them, copy the headings into your own Word/Google document or internal template, and adapt them to your course. They do not create a separate CPD Ireland form or replace the Provider Portal.
Course details plus the evidence currently requested by the Provider Portal.
Download .txt WorksheetLearning outcomes worksheetA simple way to link audience need, outcomes, content and evaluation.
Download .txt TemplateCourse structure / agendaPlan sections, methods, learning purpose and structured-learning minutes.
Download .txt ChecklistTrainer bio checklistFocus trainer evidence on the credibility relevant to the submitted course.
Download .txt ChecklistAssessment / evaluation planningMatch learning outcomes to proportionate evidence of learning.
Download .txt ChecklistLearner feedback checklistBuild a practical feedback loop covering relevance, clarity, application and improvement.
Download .txt ChecklistAccreditation Readiness ChecklistA final cross-check against the practical points in this guide.
Download .txtReady to submit?
Use the formal Standard as your final reference. When your course pack represents the current course version and the evidence is complete, submit it through your secure Provider Portal.