Set your 2026 CPD up right
Date published:
13 Jan 2026
It’s a new year, which can only mean one thing; the new CPD year has commenced. CPD years run by calendar year from 1 January – 31 December.
One of the best ways to set your CPD year up for success is by completing your Professional Development Plan (PDP).
The PDP facts
Completing and submitting a PDP is a mandatory CPD requirement set out by regulators.
The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) provides guidance on PDPs.
Completing, maintaining and submitting your PDP accrues hours towards your Category 2 requirements.
Laying the Foundations for Your CPD Year
Your PDP is your learning roadmap for the upcoming CPD year. A well-developed PDP will outline your learning goals that are relevant to your current and intended scope of practice and how you will achieve these goals.
Including a self-evaluation of the learning goals and achievements from the previous CPD cycle and the planned CPD activities to achieve your learning goals in the current year is highly recommended.
When developing your PDP, remember:
- You can keep your plan simple - only include the level of detail you find useful.
- If you already have a plan (e.g., with your employer), ensure it covers your planned CPD.
- Use the RACP CPD Handbook or the PDP builder tool in RACP MyCPD to check you have enough activities to meet requirements.
- Creating and maintaining a PDP are Category 2 (Reviewing Performance) activities.
We encourage you to discuss your PDP with a peer for insights and collaboration opportunities.
Getting Started
There are varying approaches to developing and documenting your PDP. Common options include:
Once you have a template, identify your professional development needs. The outlines how to do this, including:
- Your reflections on the effectiveness of your CPD over the last year.
- Your assessment of development needs relevant to your current and future scope of practice. In particular your development needs in relation to cultural safety, addressing health inequities, and ethics & professional behaviour, plus other professional domains.
- Feedback from trainees, peers or colleagues.
- What's currently expected of you in your professional roles and responsibilities.
- What you want to be doing in the next 2 to 5 years.
Set goals and activities
Setting achievable goals and activities is critical to ensuring your PDP is completed early in the CPD year, which you can then refer back to and maintain throughout the year. Like most things, if it’s too daunting a prospect or more difficult than it needs to be, human nature and behaviour dictates that we’ll simply put it off. So, setting goals and activities as key milestones is imperative. And remember, there is not a one-size-fits all approach to setting up your PDP.
Simply outlining your key goal, aligned activity and timeframe is a great way to get started. For example, a goal could be to “plan my CPD”. The activity could be “complete PDP and set up an annual conversation with colleague Dr X”. The timeframe may be “complete by the end of March”.
You can find examples of goals and activities in the RACP MyCPD Handbook that can help when developing your PDP.
Mandatory CPD activities: embedding cultural safety, health inequities, ethics and professional behaviour
Remember, when creating your PDP, CPD participants must include cultural safety, which incorporates addressing health inequities, and ethics and professional behaviour.
Your RACP MyCPD Handbook has a number of resources available to support you in addressing these mandatory requirements, which can be found in the RACP MyCPD Handbook.
How RACP Can Help with Your PDP
Creating your PDP with tools available through RACP MyCPD is quick and easy.
You can find the following information in the RACP MyCPD Handbook.
- Professional Development Planning: Find templates to create your PDP; tips on how to identify your professional development needs; and examples on creating goals and activities in your PDP.
- Creating a Professional Development Plan: Step-by-step assistance to create your PDP. This tool can assist in confirming if your planned activities meet your CPD requirements.
- Tools and templates: We have a range of tools and templates available to support you as you undertake your CPD, including, mandatory activities, Category 2 and 3, as well as guidance on CPD evidence.
Build or upload your PDP in your RACP MyCPD portal
- Create your PDP directly in the RACP MyCPD portal.
- If you already have your own PDP and simply want to upload this to your RACP MyCPD record, you can do that via RACP MyCPD portal.
Getting Involved with RACP Can Contribute to Your CPD
Did you know that there are several opportunities to add to your CPD by becoming more involved with College activities? The following are also excellent professional development opportunities to consider when developing your PDP.
- Getting involved with a RACP Committee, working group, or council, can contribute to Category 1.
- Undertaking College educational roles can contribute to Category 1.
- Participation in the Supervisor Professional Development Program (SPDP) can be claimed as professional development under Category 2 activities.
- Supervision of trainees, medical students, PhD students can be verified as a Category 2 CPD activity if undertaken through RACP.
- Examining trainees or medical students can be verified as a Category 2 CPD activity if undertaken through RACP.
- Assessment or marking of Advanced Training Research Projects can be verified as a Category 2 if undertaken through RACP.
- Supervision of an Advanced Training Research Project can be verified as a Category 3 activity if undertaken through RACP.
Further information on acceptable CPD evidence (PDF).
Take Advantage of the New Year
The beginning of the year can be a great time to reflect on the year that was and look forward to the year ahead and the CPD you would like to undertake to support your scope of practice.
Our recommendation is to start the CPD year strong and complete your PDP as early as possible, and remember, the next best step is to upload your PDP to your RACP MyCPD portal.