CIPD Foundation Certificate in People Practice

The primary purpose of the CIPD Foundation Certificate in People Practice qualification is to develop participants’ knowledge and skills and to build their expertise, confidence and credibility to deliver value in their organisations and to the people served by Human Resources (HR) and Learning and Development (L&D) professionals. This qualification will give participants a solid foundation for careers in the people profession, incorporating both Human Resources and Learning & Development.

This qualification, which is comparable to Level 5 on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), introduces the participants to a wide range of relevant knowledge and expertise in people practice. It is suited to those participants who:

• Are studying, aspiring to, or embarking on, a career in people practice;
• Are working in a people practice support role and wish to develop their knowledge and deliver immediate and short-term value for their organisation;
• Wish to develop the specialist knowledge, skills and understanding required to be a people professional;
• Line Managers with people management responsibilities.

CIPD qualifications set the international standard for people professionals. On successful completion of the Foundation Certificate in People Practice, candidates will be eligible for Foundation Membership of the CIPD and can use the designation Foundation CIPD. This starts to build their credibility in the people profession, shows that they are serious about their development and that they have a strong base of knowledge to build on.

Assessment

There is no written examination for the CIPD Foundation Certificate in People Practice programme. Assessment is by means of unit assignments the majority of which are written.  There is one practical assessment in relation to the conduct of a selection interview in respect of which a recording of the interview will be submitted.

When participants complete the qualification, they will be awarded CIPD Foundation Membership, and they can use the designation “Foundation CIPD” after their name.

Course Content

There are four units on the CIPD Foundation Certificate in People Practice programme covering:

1. Business, Culture and Change in Context;
2. Principles of Analytics;
3. Core Behaviours for People Professionals;
4. Essentials of People Practice.

Over the course of the four units participants will study a range of areas as set out below.

Business, Culture and Change in Context

• The Business Environment.
• Organisation Culture and Workplace Behaviour.
• Supporting Organisation Change.

Principles of Analytics

• Understanding the Needs of Customers & Stakeholders of the People Profession.
• Evidence-based Practice & Decision Making.
• Adding Value through insights based on the Analysis of Data.

Core Behaviours for People Professionals

• The CIPD Profession Map – the Standards for the People Profession.
• Ethics and Professional Practice.
• The Values of the People Management Profession.
• Continuing Personal/Professional Development.

Essentials of People Practice

• The Employee Lifecycle.
• Contributing to Effective Selection and Appointment.
• Employee Relations & Engagement.
• Employment Law & Best Practice in relation to Organisation of Working Time/Work Life Balance, Employment Equality & Diversity and Dismissal.
• Performance Management.
• Reward Management.
• Learning and Development

Delivery

The next programme will commence in September 2025.

We offer a blended learning approach to the delivery of 120 hours of guided learning over the period of September 2025 to April 2026. In addition to the 120 hours of guided learning participants can expect to devote another 120 hours to self-study and the completion of assessments between September 2025 to April 2026.

In this blended learning approach, we give participants a series of 11 days of Online Live Workshops. Participants will be required to have good internet access and are advised to be able connect to the online live workshops using a laptop/PC with video and audio enabled.

The Live Online Workshops will be delivered by a team of HR professionals with extensive experience of designing and delivering learning and development interventions for HR and L&D Practitioners and Line Managers.

Participants will also have online access to workbooks for each unit, webcast recordings, videos with self-study guides, podcasts, toolkits and other learning resources through the IPA’s Learning Management System Moodle.