Obtain Your CPD Credits for Professional Competencies through these Ethics-related Courses

August 2022 - 3 min read 

As a real estate salesperson (RES), you would be very familiar with the Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care (CEPCC) that CEA has put in place. 

The CEPCC sets the standard of conduct for RESs to carry out their work professionally and ethically, in the best interests of their clients. It covers key aspects of conduct, such as the requirements for RESs to have the knowledge of and be in compliance with relevant laws, practice circulars and guidelines, including those regarding advertisements.  The CEPCC also states the prohibition of RESs to bring discredit or disrepute to the real estate agency industry. Hence, it is very important that you are fully conversant with the CEPCC as it governs the way you carry out your work and know your responsibilities in serving your clients, and in your interactions with other parties in property transactions. 

In this blog, we highlight two Professional Competencies courses under CEA’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) framework that you may want to consider to attend for a refresher on the CEPCC and the Practice Guidelines (PG) on Ethical Advertising.

Emphasising ethical and professional standards through actual case studies and scenarios

OrangeTee & Tie’s course titled “Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care” seeks to provide learners with a better understanding of the CEPCC as well as CEA’s relevant policies, practice circulars and guidelines. It was designed with a view to elevate learners’ professionalism when carrying out estate work, and dealing with clients through actual case studies and scenarios.

The course developer is Mr Harry Yeo, an experienced real estate practitioner and Principal Trainer at OrangeTee & Tie, who also conducts some of the course sessions. Providing a walkthrough of the course, Mr Yeo explained that he opens by highlighting 13 unprofessional behaviours committed by errant RESs and the lessons to be learnt. These examples are based on day-to-day observations of common breaches and past disciplinary cases brought by CEA against RESs who failed to comply with the CEPCC.

Following this, learners will be brought through an analysis of 24 case studies involving errant RESs who had committed professional misconduct and had disciplinary action taken against them by CEA. This approach is taken to make the course content more relatable and relevant to learners, and to help them better apply their knowledge gained to real-life situations.

Said Mr Yeo, “The learning points from these cases studies would raise awareness of professional misconduct of other RESs. These would also act as reminders to RESs to avoid professional misconduct and to abide by the CEPCC, while conducting their day-to-day work.”

Signing up for the course

The next runs of OrangeTee & Tie’s course – Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care – will be held in September 2022. The course will be conducted via Zoom and is open to all RESs.

RESs who complete the course will be awarded two CPD credits for Professional Competencies.

For more information on the course and future sessions, please email training@orangetee.com.

Presenting CEA's PG on Ethical Advertising through storytelling

If you are looking at polishing up your knowledge on CEA’s PG on Ethical Advertising, RIA School of Real Estate’s e-learning module, “Ethics in Real Estate Advertising”, might just be the course for you. 

Mr Michael Chian, General Manager, RIA School of Real Estate, said that this course is unique as it adopts a fresh storytelling format, with learners role-playing as secret agents on a mission. It is while being on this mission that learners will be equipped with the knowledge of the relevant requirements to enable them to render their services to clients responsibly, competently, professionally, and ethically, in line with the prescribed rules and guidelines. The course also features videos to communicate the story more dramatically so that learners are more likely to recall the PG’s content when they are faced with ethical decisions in the course of their work, explained Mr Chian.

Course developer Ms Lynn Wong, added, “One of our key considerations in conceptualising a mission-based format is to maintain a fine balance between the presentation of the guidelines and entertainment.”  Ms Wong shared that in designing the course, much effort (including a plot twist!) was put into ensuring that learners would feel engaged throughout. “This was achieved by adjusting the difficulty level of assessment questions to the target group of learners, explaining legal or technical jargon, providing learning support to encourage positive learning behaviours, and keeping in mind the goals of the e-course in every learning activity.”

Mr Chian said that the course’s other plus point would be the benefits of accessibility and convenience to RESs, as they can start, pause and resume the e-learning at their own pace. “Real estate agents are always on the move and have sporadic pockets of time spent waiting or commuting. Bite-sized, modular e-courses will allow learners who are time-conscious to maximise this time and keep themselves updated on their real estate knowledge and fulfil their CPD hours.”

Signing up for the course

RIA School of Real Estate’s “E-Learning: Ethics in Real Estate Advertising” is open to all RESs and is delivered through Gnowbe, a micro-learning platform.

To be eligible for two CPD credits for Professional Competencies, course participants must achieve 80% and above in an online assessment comprising multiple choice questions.   

For more information, please email RIA School at admin@riaschool.com.sg. 

Information accurate as at 3 Aug 2022