Continuing Education Committee

NECA follows the guidelines established by the National Task Force on Continuing Education commissioned by the Bureau of Education (now the Department of Education) in 1968.  The Council on the Continuing Education Unit (CCEU) gathered academic, business and education experts from around the country to define and promote the use of a single consistent unit of measurement for continuing education. Participants included representatives from health care, engineering, accounting, academia and many other professions (Current NECA Executive Board Member Dr. Michael C. Lazarchick was the first Continuing Education Chairperson for both the New Jersey Counseling Association and the National Employment Counseling Association in 1982.

The Continuing Education Unit, or CEU, came into existence, defined as "ten contact hours of participation in an organized continuing education experience under responsible, qualified direction and instruction." The purpose of the CEU was to enable tracking and record-keeping of non-credit education undertaken by adult students. The CCEU formulated and disseminated guidelines on the use of the CEU and sponsored several conferences. The Council exists today as the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).

NECA has a long history of excellence and have endeavored to strictly follow the Council's core criteria and guidelines.

• We ensure that individuals at NECA Events are qualified to present their subject matter.
• We ensure that participants attend the presentations for which they ask credit.
• We require that participants evaluate the experience.

CEUs provide the opportunity for individuals to have recognition of their efforts to update or broaden their occupational knowledge, skills, or attitudes. Records of CEUs successfully completed provide a framework within which individuals can develop and achieve long-range educational goals through a variety of educational options. Having readily available permanent records permits individuals to maintain and transmit to others, a record of their life-long occupationally related learning experiences. The most common uses of a CEU record or transcript by an individual are to supply an employer or prospective employer with information on continuing education and training experiences pertinent to an occupational competence; and to provide documentation to registration boards, certification bodies, or professional and occupational societies, of continuing education undertaken to maintain or increase professional competence. Many companies and organizations now include copies of CEU transcripts in employees'/members' personnel files for use when personnel evaluation, promotion, and/or professional organization membership status are being considered. And, of course, the requirements for registration, recertification, and renewal of a license has become a way of life for many professional, occupational, and paraprofessional groups.

Examples of activities that may not qualify for CEUs include:

• Association Membership and Certification Programs - Non- educational activities of professional, occupational, or other organizations that otherwise may be used to qualify for professional and occupational membership or certification.
• In-Service Training Programs - Instructional activities that relate only to the procedures and policies of one organization are not appropriate for awarding CEUs. Instruction applicable to the professional or occupational field, and has value wherever the individual may be employed, is appropriate for the awarding of CEUs (if it meets CEU criteria). Committee Work - Committee meetings, activities, and assignments are not appropriate for the awarding of CEUs.
• Credit Programs - CEUs and academic credit, for secondary or post- secondary courses and programs, may not be awarded simultaneously. There is no relationship between CEUs and academic credit. Academic credit applies specifically to certificate/degree requirements and CEUs are not awarded for that purpose.
• Entertainment and Recreation - Attendance at cultural performances, entertainment, recreational meetings, or participation in travel groups.
• High-school Equivalency - Programs leading to high-school equivalency certificates or diplomas.
• Individual Scholarship - Independent writing or the presentation of papers outside of a planned, directly supervised continuing education experience that fulfills CEU criteria.
• Mass Media Program - Programs delivered through the media (e.g., television, radio, newspaper) do not qualify for CEUs, unless these activities are an integral part of a planned continuing education experience that qualifies under CEU criteria.
• Conferences and Conventions - Meetings, conferences, and conventions of professional/occupational organizations do not automatically qualify as continuing education experiences. However, specifically organized courses, workshops or seminars held in conjunction with meetings, conferences, or conventions may qualify for CEUs when the CEU criteria are met.
• Instructing - Instructing or leading a continuing education experience for which CEUs are awarded is not an appropriate activity for the awarding of CEUs. (However, Certification and Licensing Bodies may grant credit for research involved with making a presentation & NECA will provide upon request, to any presenter, official documentation of any presentation made at an official NECA Event.)
• Work Experience - On-the-job training and other work experiences do not qualify for CEUs unless the experience is offered according to CEU criteria. CEUs are not awarded for prior life/work experiences.

NECA does provide documentation of attendance at our events and is exploring the acceptance of our training documentation along numerous pathways.