The Integrated Personal Development System (IPDS) is a tool designed to facilitate the learning, development and assessment of firefighters, supporting new demands being placed on the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS).

In the past the FRS was seen mainly as a reactive service whose role was to respond to emergency incidents, today's Fire and Rescue Service puts equal emphasis on fire safety, prevention and risk reduction.

These new demands require an enhancement of the traditional training structure in the FRS. IPDS has been designed to fit these new requirements of the changing Fire and Rescue Service.

IPDS is intended to provide learning and development that is specifically tailored to each and every individual in the FRS, to sit alongside the group- or station-based systems through which training was previously delivered.

IPDS gives each individual a personalised, structured learning and development path based on his or her own needs.

One of the most important changes brought in through IPDS was the change from 'rank' to 'role'.

Previously, members of the FRS occupied one of 13 formal operational 'ranks'. The only way to gain promotion in the Service was through entering at the lowest rank and moving up, with some roles open only to those who had served a certain amount of time.

IPDS has replaced the 13 ranks with seven key 'roles'. These 'roles' are intended to reflect the work that individuals actually do in the FRS. 'Roles' place the focus on what individuals do and achieve at work, rather than on the rank they hold.

The seven roles are:

	Firefighter
	Crew Manager
	Watch Manager
	Station Manager
	Group Manager
	Area Manager
	Brigade Manager

A 'role map' has been produced for each of these roles, detailing the skills and knowledge associated with it.

Among other things, this role-based approach allows for individuals in one part of the country to be compared against another individual in the same role working in a different part of the country. Whilst people may do different things to reduce risk and provide service, they will do them to the same national standard.

Unlike the old 'rank'-based system, IPDS is open and shows everyone, in every role, what is expected from them and their colleagues.

One of the benefits of the new system is that someone who's happy in their current role can use appropriate development modules to update their knowledge and increase their professionalism. On the other hand, for someone who's keen to go for promotion the way forward is clearly marked, with a series of targets to reach for in the form of further development modules.

IPDS encourages both groups of people by clearly showing them the way forward and providing development opportunities that are based on their own needs and desires.

Overall, the most important thing IPDS does reducing the risks faced by the public and by firefighters themselves.

'Role maps' clearly show what members of the FRS need in order to cope with the tasks they face at work. Individually-tailored development programmes allow each member of the FRS to receive the specific training and development they require in order to carry out those tasks.