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Continued Professional Development

The CPD program is designed to assist individuals within the industry to remain current and to continue to develop as professionals

Members of Professional bodies and Industry professionals are encouraged to apply for Professional Designations. The firearms training industry is no different.

The PFTC Professional Designations currently registered and recognised at SAQA include the following:

  • Professional Range Officer + current description
  • Professional Firearms Instructor + current description
  • Professional Tactical Firearms Instructor + current description
  • Professional Training Specialist + current description
  • Professional Firearm Training Counsellor + current description .

In order to maintain a Professional Designation, the professional must attain a specific number of CPD points-achieved by completing certain activities over the period of 36 months.

  • The Continued Professional Development (CPD) program which is hosted and administered by the PFTC is created and managed by following guidelines and requirements put in place by SAQA.
  • Once an individual has applied for and been granted a Professional Designation (based on achieving the initial criteria for that specific designation), this person becomes a candidate for the PFTC CPD program.
  • The CPD program is designed to assist individuals within the industry to remain current and to continue to develop as professionals within the industry at their specific level of contribution, and to maintain a certain level of expertise that defines them as professionals.
  • The CPD program runs over the course of 36 months, with a certain amount of CPD points that must be attained in each 12-month cycle.

The program is divided into three segments each with its own points criteria:

  • To be able to Register for PFTC’s CPD Program, individuals need to be PFTC Members in good standing and must already have been awarded a Professional Designation that they now wish to maintain through CPD.
  • Members must also have created a PFTC user profile. Members will not be able to register for an event if a PFTC profile has not been set up. Nor will they be able to apply for pre-approval for specific activities outside of those that are already approved and recognised by the PFTC.
  • All CPD-registered training providers may submit their proposed CPD programs here for approval by the PFTC.
  • Once approved, the event will be loaded onto the CPD program framework allowing CPD candidates the opportunity to register for these events.

POINT ALLOCATIONS FOR PROFESSIONAL DESIGNATIONS

Minimum number of points required to maintain a Professional Designation: 80 Points THREE CATEGORIES OF CD POINTS
GENERIC CD POINTS: 40 points over three years (at least 10 points per year)
CPD-PROGRAM SPECIFIC POINTS: 20 points over three years (at least five points per year)
DESIGNATION-SPECIFIC POINTS: 20 points over three years (at least eight points per year)