Part I Introduction, Origins and Early Development -- Chapter 1 Introduction and Outline -- Chapter 2 The Origins and Early Development of CPE -- Part II CPE's Development Viewed from Four Perspectives -- Chapter 3 Missed Opportunities in Relationships with Other Educational Sectors -- Chapter 4 Mandatory Continuing Professional Education: Its Origin and Acceptance -- Chapter 5 Mandatory Continuing Professional Education: Development and Extension -- Chapter 6 Competencies: Concepts, Critics and Compromise -- Chapter 7 Competencies: Longer Term Use and Development -- Chapter 8 Regulation of the Professions -- Part III The Contemporary Context for Professional Practice -- Chapter 9 Changes Impacting on Contemporary Professional Practice and CPE -- Chapter 10 Rounding off the Tale of CPE: Six Themes -- Chapter 11 Rounding Off the Tale of CPE: Problems and a Popular Picture -- Part IV Seizing Future Opportunities for CPD -- Chapter 12 For CPD: Exploring Opportunities not to be Missed -- .This book offers a history of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the Australian context. It presents an approach that links the development of CPD to a series of 'missed opportunities' and the identification of three key themes (mandatory CPD, competencies and regulation/registration) as well as with national regulation for select health professions. It not only relates the evolution of CPD in Australia but also serves as a guide to examining the situation in other countries and the emergence of CPD in individual professions. CPD has been provided for many decades, but it has not been rated as a 'high priority' or a key area of provision and has not been the focus of discussions or disputes in the higher education sector or in vocational education circles. Nevertheless in describing CPD's development, evidence is presented that CPD has made a significant contribution to the broad field of vocational education.