Any activity that helps you meet your learning needs counts towards continuing competence, for example:
- working towards professional qualifications
- taking part in courses and accreditations
- work shadowing
- listening to or watching audio-visual material
- doing research
The SRA toolkit suggests more activities to meet your learning needs.
In July 2019 the SRA released a report showing how law firms and solicitors have responded to continuing competence. The table shows the most common types of training firms have provided since it was introduced.
| Internal approaches | % | External approaches | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading, research and discussion | 75 | Training course on specific topics or areas of law | 70 |
| Informal training/on-the-job training | 69 | E-learning or webinars | 59 |
| Peer-to-peer informal learning | 51 | Conferences and events | 58 |
| Mentoring and coaching | 48 | Learning and development networks | 30 |
| Shared learning | 39 | Study towards a professional qualification or certification | 23 |
| E-learning and bespoke courses | 44 | Social media learning platforms | 19 |
| Secondments to other departments | 5 |
Read the full SRA report: Understanding implementation of our approach to continuing competence
Courses
If you want to do a course, you should check that the quality of it is acceptable to you. The SRA does not accredit courses or course providers.
If your firm will not fund continuing competence activities
There are many activities you can do to meet the continuing competence requirements that are free, for example work shadowing or taking part in webinars.