5CO03 Professional Behaviours and Valuing People: Complete Study Guide
5CO03 Professional Behaviours and Valuing People is one of three core units in the CIPD Level 5 Associate Diploma. Worth 5 credits, it's different from other units because it focuses on YOU as a professional—your ethics, values, behaviours, and development. This is where you demonstrate that you understand what it means to be a people professional.
This guide breaks down everything you need to understand about 5CO03, including the key concepts and what each assessment criterion is asking for.
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What You'll Learn in 5CO03
The unit covers three main learning outcomes:
- Be able to demonstrate professional and ethical behaviours, in the context of people practice — What it means to be a professional, applying ethical values, contributing with confidence, and raising ethical concerns.
- Be able to champion inclusive and collaborative strategies for building positive working relationships — The business case for inclusion, designing inclusive practices, and reflecting on your own approach.
- Be able to demonstrate personal commitment to learning, professional development and performance improvement — How the profession is evolving, self-assessment, CPD planning, and reflective practice.
Key Concepts for 5CO03
The CIPD Profession Map
The Profession Map is central to 5CO03. It defines:
Core Knowledge
- People practice
- Culture and behaviour
- Business acumen
- Analytics and creating value
- Digital working
- Change
Specialist Knowledge
- Employee experience
- Employee relations
- Diversity and inclusion
- Learning and development
- Organisation development and design
- People analytics
- Resourcing
- Reward
- Talent management
Core Behaviours
- Ethical practice
- Professional courage and influence
- Valuing people
- Working inclusively
- Commercial drive
- Passion for learning
- Insights focused
- Situational decision-making
Professional Values and Ethics
What Makes Someone a Professional?
- Specialised knowledge and expertise
- Commitment to standards and codes of conduct
- Ethical practice and integrity
- Continuous development
- Service to others
- Accountability for actions
Ethical Frameworks
CIPD Code of Professional Conduct
Members must:
- Act with honesty and integrity
- Treat people fairly
- Act within the law
- Challenge unethical behaviour
- Maintain confidentiality
- Commit to CPD
Professional Courage
Professional courage means:
- Speaking up when something is wrong
- Challenging decisions that conflict with ethics or law
- Advocating for employees when needed
- Raising concerns even when uncomfortable
- Being a critical friend to leadership
Whistleblowing
When to escalate:
- Illegal activity
- Health and safety risks
- Environmental damage
- Covering up wrongdoing
- Failure of internal processes
Whistleblowers have legal protection under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Inclusive Practice
The Case for Inclusion
Human benefits:
- Belonging and psychological safety
- Fair treatment and equal opportunity
- Reduced discrimination and harassment
- Better wellbeing
Business benefits:
- Wider talent pool
- Diverse perspectives and innovation
- Better decision-making
- Improved reputation
- Reduced legal risk
- Reflecting customer base
Designing Inclusive Practices
Consider inclusion in:
- Recruitment (diverse sourcing, unbiased selection)
- Development (equal access, sponsorship)
- Reward (pay equity, transparent criteria)
- Progression (fair promotion, diverse pipelines)
- Policies (flexible working, accessibility)
- Culture (values, behaviours, zero tolerance)
Building Working Relationships
Key Relationship Skills
- Active listening
- Clear communication
- Empathy and understanding
- Trust-building
- Collaboration
- Conflict resolution
- Stakeholder management
Engaging with Stakeholders
People professionals work with:
- Employees at all levels
- Line managers
- Senior leadership
- Trade unions/employee representatives
- External partners (ACAS, legal, consultants)
Continuing Professional Development
What Is CPD?
CPD is the continuous process of developing knowledge, skills, and behaviours throughout your career. CIPD requires members to maintain CPD records.
Types of CPD Activities
Formal learning:
- Qualifications and courses
- Conferences and events
- Webinars and workshops
- Professional reading
Informal learning:
- On-the-job experience
- Mentoring and coaching
- Shadowing and secondments
- Networking
- Reflective practice
The CPD Cycle
- Assess — Where am I now? (self-assessment, feedback)
- Plan — Where do I want to be? (objectives, activities)
- Act — Undertake development activities
- Reflect — What did I learn? What impact?
- Apply — Use new knowledge/skills in practice
Reflective Practice
Reflection is how you learn from experience. Key models:
- Description → Feelings → Evaluation → Analysis → Conclusion → Action Plan
Schön's Reflection
- Reflection-in-action (thinking while doing)
- Reflection-on-action (thinking after)
Kolb's Learning Cycle
- Experience → Reflection → Conceptualisation → Experimentation
Assessment Criteria Breakdown
Learning Outcome 1: Professional and Ethical Behaviours
AC 1.1: Appraise what it means to be a people professional
This asks you to:
- Define professionalism
- Reference the CIPD Profession Map
- Discuss professional values and integrity
- Consider what distinguishes professionals from non-professionals
Key verb: "Appraise" means assess the value and significance.
AC 1.2: Recognise how personal and ethical values can be applied in the context of people practice
This asks you to:
- Identify your own values
- Discuss how values guide behaviour
- Consider when personal and organisational values conflict
- Explain professional courage in practice
Make this personal—what are YOUR values?
AC 1.3: Consider the importance of people professionals contributing to discussions in an informed, clear and confident way to influence others
This asks you to:
- Discuss why voice and influence matter
- Cover communication techniques
- Explain evidence-based contribution
- Consider how to build credibility
AC 1.4: Recognise when and how you would raise matters which conflict with ethical values or legislation
This asks you to:
- Identify situations requiring escalation
- Explain appropriate channels
- Discuss whistleblowing protections
- Consider professional courage in practice
Learning Outcome 2: Inclusive and Collaborative Strategies
AC 2.1: Argue the human and business benefits of people feeling included, valued, and fairly treated at work linking to related theory
This asks you to:
- Present the case for inclusion
- Cover both human and business benefits
- Link to theory (Maslow, motivation, engagement)
- Provide evidence and examples
Key verb: "Argue" means make a persuasive case with evidence.
AC 2.2: Discuss strategies for designing and ensuring inclusive people practices
This asks you to:
- Cover strategies across the employee lifecycle
- Discuss consultation and involvement
- Explain how to check practices are inclusive
- Consider different needs and perspectives
AC 2.3: Reflect on your own approach to working inclusively and building positive working relationships with others
This asks you to:
- Honestly assess your own behaviour
- Identify what you do well
- Acknowledge development areas
- Consider how to improve
This must be personal reflection, not generic.
Learning Outcome 3: CPD and Development
AC 3.1: Explore how the role of a people professional is evolving and the implications this has for continuing professional development
This asks you to:
- Discuss trends affecting the profession
- Cover new skills and knowledge needed
- Explain implications for your own CPD
- Reference future-focused skills
AC 3.2: Assess your strengths, weaknesses and development areas based on self-assessment and feedback from others
This asks you to:
- Conduct honest self-assessment
- Gather and incorporate feedback
- Use the Profession Map as a framework
- Be specific about strengths and gaps
You need actual feedback, not just your own opinion.
AC 3.3: Formulate a range of formal and/or informal continuing professional development (CPD) activities to support your learning journey
This asks you to:
- Create a genuine CPD plan
- Include formal and informal activities
- Make activities specific and realistic
- Link to identified development needs
AC 3.4: Reflect on the impact of your continuing professional development activities on own behaviour and performance
This asks you to:
- Review completed CPD activities
- Assess what you learned
- Evaluate impact on your practice
- Use a reflective model (like Gibbs)
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Being generic about values — This unit requires personal reflection. What are YOUR values? How do YOU apply them?
- Skipping the Profession Map — It's central to this unit. Reference it throughout.
- Weak self-assessment — Honest acknowledgment of weaknesses is valued. Don't pretend you're perfect.
- No actual feedback — AC 3.2 requires feedback from others, not just self-perception.
- Vague CPD plans — Activities must be specific, realistic, and linked to development needs.
- Superficial reflection — Use a model (Gibbs) and go deep. Analysis and insight matter.
Useful CIPD Resources
CIPD Profession Map: — The core framework
Code of Professional Conduct: — Ethical standards
CPD guidance and tools: — Planning templates
Inclusion and Diversity resources: — Business case and strategies
How People Study Pro Helps with 5CO03
People Study Pro provides structured guidance for every 5CO03 assessment criterion, including templates for self-assessment and CPD planning. See also our Gibbs Reflective Cycle guide for reflective practice support.