(Part 1 of 4)
Submitted by Jill Corfield: corfield@mweb.co.za
Professional estate agency practitioners who have been certificated against the Further Education and Training Certificate: Real Estate (for non-principal estate agents) and/or the National Certificate: Real Estate (for principal estate agents) and who have also passed the relevant Professional Designation Examination will have already demonstrated that they are competent professionals. However, they must still remain aware of, and ensure that they are always fully acquainted with, the latest trends, developments and technologies occurring within the South African socio-political and economic environments as well as within the dynamic, volatile and continually evolving estate agency and property environments.
The objective of the new, mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme is to ensure that professional real estate practitioners remain current in their practice in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies, as well as in the proficient manner in which their services are rendered to consumers. They should also be fully acquainted with, and mindful of, material changes and developments occurring within the sector.
Professional estate agents must comply fully with all legislative, and any other, requirements pertaining to the sector in which they operate. They must ensure that their business related skills, aptitudes and competencies at least meet, but preferably exceed, current organisational and enterprise requirements including such relevant aspects as the expert use of appropriate ICT systems including financial and client management software packages.
Approved CPD activities
1. Education and training (Compulsory)
Education and training includes all education and training gained through acquiring the SAQA-accredited qualifications and attending short courses, seminars, conferences and/or workshops, whether in-house or otherwise, where the focus is content specific and relevant to property in general and estate agencies in particular. Participation by estate agents as lecturers, facilitators or contributors is also included in this category.
CPD points required: 15 points per year
2. Professional Development (Elective)
Professional development includes activities that contribute toward the development of the practitioner in relation to the estate agency and property sectors.
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points per year
3. Corporate social investment (Elective)
Corporate social investment activities have an internal sector focus and are undertaken to expand both existing and new enterprises within the sector. Activities having an external focus are undertaken to raise public awareness of the property sector or estate agency as a career pathway, source of wealth and store of value. Examples of corporate social investment activities include donating funds to charities, opening up internal schools for previously disadvantaged students, taking interns from previously disadvantaged sectors into service and so forth.
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points per year
4. Mentoring and coaching (Elective)
Mentoring and coaching activities refer to activities where estate agents assume responsibility for the provision of guidance and the transfer of knowledge and skills to a protégé who might be an intern estate agent or a junior employee of the estate agency enterprise. Mentoring and coaching could also include supervising further tertiary studies by employees or stakeholders.
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points per year
5. Reading and publishing (Elective)
Reading and publishing includes the reading of appropriate and relevant estate agency-related articles in magazines, scholarly journals, industry magazines, books and credible websites. It also includes the publishing of articles in the same sources.
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points per year
6. Personal development (Elective)
Personal development relates to activities which contribute to the development of knowledge and skills that might not be directly related to their CPD commitments.
Maximum CPD points permitted: 5 points per year
Additional CPD activities
There may well be further CPD activities not appearing above. Provision will be made for estate agency practitioners to contact the CPD office of the EAAB Education and Training Department to make appropriate suggestions on any other activities that they would prefer to have included as appropriate CPD activities for the award of CPD points.