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Log Guidelines

Logging Practical Work Experience
 
Candidate (Provisional) Members must take care that their log only includes practical work experience that is consistent with the definition of planning in section 3(2) of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute Act.
 
The following guidelines offer Candidate (Provisional) Members and sponsors some direction in terms of the type of practice work experience, level of responsibility, amount of planning work and range of work required to successfully complete a log for potential validation.
 

Type of Practical Work Experience

Sponsors should take a broad interpretation of the definition of “planning” in assessing whether the work performed is indeed planning. The definition should be used as a guide rather than a literal interpretation.
 
It is important to recognize and acknowledge, however, that planning is not coordinating, facilitating or administering. While these activities may be a part of the work described, they may not be a major element of the work. If they represent more than 50 per cent of the work described, then no element of the work may be validated as planning experience.
 
Organizations engaged in planning assign work in a variety of structures and employment titles. Thus job titles and the name of the department, agency, etc., in which a person is employed, neither qualify nor disqualify a person’s work.
 
The activities, as well as the applied planning skills and knowledge, should be considered in determining whether the work described should be validated as relevant planning experience. Any activity to be credited as practical work experience must clearly contribute to, or be a substantive part of, the planning process. The activity must include one or more of the following elements:

  • Research and analysis
  • Policy formulation
  • Design and layout
  • Review of development proposals/policies
  • Development of implementation strategies

The work must clearly affect the disposition of land, resources, etc., as opposed to work that produces background information that a planner may use.
 
Teaching of planning in a post secondary institution is also considered practical work experience. In this regard, research and consulting work is regarded as part of the teaching experience.
 
Candidate (Provisional) Members who hold a faculty position in a planning program recognized by the Canadian Institute of Planners may have their teaching and research considered for validation provided that the Candidate (Provisional) Member holds a full-time, tenure-track faculty position within the planning program and is responsible for the delivery of courses within the planning curriculum throughout the period being logged.

Level of Responsibility

To be recognized, practical work experience must be conducted at a level that requires: initiative and judgement; and responsibility and accountability. Clearly defined planning responsibilities and evidence of opportunities for independent work must be identified within the log.
 
Over the total period of required practice work experience that a Candidate (Provisional) Member is required to log, the individual must clearly demonstrate a progression in the level of responsibility held in completing work assignments, including increasing amounts of independent work and increasing opportunities and capacity to exercise independent professional judgement. The sponsor should be looking for evidence of how the member is maturing as a practitioner, aware of his or her obligations as a planner, and able to transfer knowledge from one job setting to another.
 
Planning responsibilities that are part of a technical support role/position (e.g., planning assistant, planning technician) may be logged only to a maximum of 12 months. This limit was established by agreement with the Canadian Association of Certified Planning Technicians, the certifying body for those employed in planning technician and planning technologist positions. It is CACPT’s position that those employed in a planning technician position for longer than 12 months should be members of that organization and not OPPI and CIP.
 
Candidate (Provisional) Members in other technical or support positions such as zoning plans examiner, secretary to the committee of adjustment, planning administrator, or zoning officer, may also only log 12 months of their required minimum period of relevant planning experience while employed in these positions. To have such experience validated, there must be evidence that the position requires the performance of more than administrative functions.

Planning as a Proportion of Total Work

A Candidate (Provisional) Member must be devoting at least 50 per cent of his/her time to obtaining relevant planning experience so that planning is his/her chief endeavour and not a side line of some other activity. All or a portion of the person’s total work experience may be considered to be acceptable for validation as practical work experience.
 
If a person is devoting more than 50 per cent, but significantly less than 100 per cent of his/her time to planning, then his/her logs should be pro-rated to calculate the amount of planning experience to validate. For example, if planning activities are 75 per cent of a Candidate (Provisional) Member’s job, to validate 24 months of work experience, he or she would have to work 32 calendar months (i.e., 24 x 100/75).

Range of Experience

The Candidate (Provisional) Member needs to have a range of planning experiences rather than an overly-restricted or limited set of practical work experiences. There should be evidence of experience in at least two types of planning. This may be obtained within the same job. The following table is a useful guide, but not necessarily a comprehensive guide, to the different scales, processes, and subject matters that planning work might deal with. Two types of planning are "different" if they share only one square on the grid, i.e. they are the same subject matter, but a different scale and process is involved:

Scale Process Subject Matter
Building Group/ Subdivision/ Major Park Research & Analysis Comprehensive Land Use
Neighbourhood or District Policy Formulation Housing
Municipality Design & Layout Commercial
Metropolitan Area Review of development proposals/policies Recreation
Regional Preparation of implementation Natural Resources
Supra-Regional Hospitals Social Services

Sponsors are advised to assess the nature of the work performed, and knowledge and skills applied, rather than the job description, to establish whether more than one type of work is being performed. 
 
Volunteer work performed by a Candidate (Provisional) Member cannot be counted toward the required total period of practical planning experience to be logged. Volunteer work may, however, be accepted as evidence of attaining a broad range of planning experience.
 
Please note that practical work experience cannot be logged or validated under the follow circumstances:

  • It was acquired in a volunteer, intern or unpaid position
  • It was acquired while the Candidate (Provisional) Member had non-practicing status with OPPI
  • It was acquired while the Candidate (Provisional) Member was an undergraduate student
  • It was acquired while the Candidate (Provisional) Member was a graduate student, if the planning experience counted for academic credit
  • It is submitted in any form other than thoughtful written evidence that the Candidate (Provisional) Member understands the “how” and “why” of planning and has developed a capacity for critical self-reflection.