Personal development planning in practice : a series of case studies

Sinclair, Christine (2001) Personal Development Planning in Practice: A

series of case studies. In: Personal Development Planning in Practice: A

series of case studies. PDP in HE Scotland Network, pp. 20-23.

ISBN 1 901 085 627

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Personal

Development

Planning in Practice

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Personal Development Planning in Higher Education (Scotland) Gr

oup would

like to thank Scottish Qualifications

Agency

, Scottish Executive, Quality

Assurance

Agency in Higher Education and all contributors to the

publication. Editors:

Charles Juwah, Lorraine Stefani, Jenny W

estwood, Craig Gray

, Jan Drysdale

First Published 2001 ISBN 1 901 085 627

COPYRIGHT

All rights r

eserved. The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

Except for use for course of instr

uction and distribution within UK Higher Education

Institutions, no part of this publication may be r

epr

oduced in any form, without the

rights clearance and/or prior written permission of the authors.

All r

epr

oductions

fr

om this publication should acknowledge the sour

ce and copyright of the PDP

(HE)

Scotland Network.

These Case Studies r

eflect the variety of potential contexts

for PDP

, including work-based learning contracts,

disciplinary based pr

ocesses linking learning with personal

and pr

ofessional development, cr

edit bearing modules,

web-based and paper

-based r

ecor

ding formats.

Common featur

es of the Case Studies include emphasis on

reflection, key skills, pr

ofessional and disciplinary based

skills.

Almost all of the Case Studies addr

ess the complex

issue of assessment of personal development planning, with many successful initiatives focusing on learning, development and formative feedback as well as the support requir

ed to underpin aspects of PDP

. On the other hand, ther

e

ar

e successful examples of cr

edit bearing modules, cr

edt being

awar

ded on the basis of the pr

ocesses of r

eflecting on learning

and linking learning with personal development. While this series of Case Studies pr

ovides only a snapshot of

the variety of initiatives alr

eady embedded in pr

ogrammes

of study

, all of them sit well with the QAA

Guidelines r

elating

to the Personal Development Planning aspect of Pr

ogr

ess

Files.

Also, a Case Study fr

om the SQA

has been showcased

her

e to highlight the move towar

ds a seamless transition for

learners moving thr

ough dif

fer

ent sectors of the Scottish

Education system with r

espect to Personal Development

Planning opportunities.

FOREWORD

Lorraine Stefani

Chair

, PDP in HE Group Scotland

In December 1999, a consultation seminar on the forthcoming guidelines on Pr

ogr

ess Files was jointly or

ganised by the QAA

in HE and the Personal Development Planning in Higher Education (Scotland) Gr

oup. The seminar

, hosted at the

University of Strathclyde attracted Higher Education policy makers, senior administrators, academic and r

elated staf

f

involved with teaching and the support of learning. While most Higher Education Institutions alr

eady pr

ovide

graduating students with a transcript of attainment, albeit in dif

fer

ent formats, not all HEIs have well formulated policies

and practices r

elating to the pr

ovision of Personal

Development Planning opportunities integrated into programmes of study

.

A

clear outcome of the consultation

seminar was the need to pr

ovide for policy makers and

practitioners, models of Personal Development Planning which have alr

eady been embedded within academic

pr

ogrammes of study and other learning pathways.

In r

esponse to this stated need, the PDP

in HE (Scotland)

Gr

oup commissioned practitioners acr

oss the Scottish Higher

Education sector to pr

ovide individual Case Studies,

highlighting good practice in pr

oviding, implementing and

supporting Personal Development Planning opportunities for learners.

These Case Studies ar

e pr

emised on the systems, pr

ocesses

and ethos of the Scottish Higher Education system, but they are clearly r

elevant to HEIs thr

oughout the UK and beyond.

It is for this r

eason that the PDP

in HE (Scotland) Gr

oup has

worked in collaboration with QAA

to pr

ovide these models

of good practice fr

om acr

oss the HE sector

. W

e hope that all

relevant HE staf

f can build upon these case studies, adapting

and r

emodelling them wher

e appr

opriate to fit particular

learning contexts but always bearing in mind that the personal/individual benefits derived fr

om engaging in the

pr

ocess of PDP

ar

e generally mor

e cr

ucial than the framework

or pr

ocedur

es used for r

ecor

ding PDP

, whether utilising

traditional paper based systems or the incr

easingly popular

electr

WHO SHOULD USE THESE CASE STUDIES?

These case studies demonstrate the use of PDP in a variety of contexts in higher education. They should be of

inter

est to individuals in a range of r

oles within and outwith the sector

. For example:

•

Policy makers and senior managers in higher education will gain insights into how PDP works and

will be able to make informed judgements about how the pr

ocess can be supported;

•

Discipline-based lectur

ers and tutors will find examples of PDP

integrated into specific disciplines;

•

T

utors supporting work-based learning will find examples of PDP

used in work-based learning;

•

Ther

e ar

e examples drawn fr

om educational and car

eers guidance contexts;

•

Some case studies featur

e the use of IT for those inter

ested in making gr

eater use of IT in supporting

learning;

•

Students will gain an incr

eased awar

eness of the importance of r

eflection and becoming a self-dir

ected

learner;

•

Employers will see how students ar

e encouraged to develop these skills which will be essential to

them in continuing pr

ofessional development in their futur

e car

eers;

•

Reflective practitioners, r

egar

dless of discipline, pr

ofession or vocation will find dif

fer

ent appr

oaches

to the pr

ocess of PDP

.

W

ith the emphasis on lifelong learning for the twenty first century these case studies should have something to

of

CONTENTS

Guide to T

opics Cover

ed in the Case Studies

v

Case Studies

:

1.

Plans for

Action , T

ime for Reflection: an Experiment with T

ime,

Action and Personal Development

1

Paul Mahar

g

2.

Personal Development Planning with Support Network T

eam V

olunteers

6

Colin Mason, Sally Collier & Catriona Baxter

3.

The Open Universityís Portfolio

Appr

oach to Personal and Car

eer Development

12

Paddy Maher

4.

Personal and Pr

ofessional Capabilities within the Curriculum: Case Studies fr

om the University of the Highlands and Islands P

roject

16

Linda Wheeler

5.

Keeping a Reflective Journal: Reflections of a Matur

e Student

20

Christine Sinclair

6.

Development of a W

ork-Based Management Qualification

24

Alison Nimmo

7.

Reflective Portfolios for W

ork-Based Learning

29

Jennifer J Graham

8.

Reflection in W

ork-Based Learning for Under

graduates

33

Melissa Highton

9.

Personal Development Planning in the Faculty of

Arts, the University of Edinbur

gh

36

L

ynda Ali

10.

Encouraging Personal Development Planning thr

ough Pr

oject Management Logbooks

39

Lorraine AJ Stefani

11

.

A

Portable Document for Lifelong Learning: Piloting a W

eb-Based PDP

T

ool for the

Academic and Pr

ofessional Design Community

44

Jenny Ur

e, Julian Malins & Charles Juwah

12.

Pr

ogr

ess Files Developments in Schools, Colleges, T

raining & Employment

49

Fiona Forr

est & T

racy W

alker

Information

About PDP

in HE (Scotland)

GUIDE TO TOPICS COVERED IN THE CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDIES

123456789

1

0

1

1

1

2

Academic Content

Learning Outcome

x

x

x

x

x

Performance Criteria

x

x

Process - Skills Development

Key Skills

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Subject specific Skills

x

x

x

x

x

x

Professional Skills

Development

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Assessment

Formative

x

x

x

x

xxxx

Summative

x

x

x

x

x

Credit-Rated/ Bearing

x

x

x

xxxx

Reflective Practice

xxxx

xxx

xxxxx

Feedback Loop

x

xxx

x

xxxx

1

PLANS FOR ACTION, TIME FOR REFLECTION:

an experiment with time, action and personal development

Paul Maharg

University of Strathclyde

Summary

This paper describes the implementation of a student development planning document or action plan for law students in the department of Law and Public

Administration,

Glasgow Caledonian University

. First, the theor

etical

backgr

ound to the implementation is described, followed by

a description of the plan itself; and then the initial feedback obtained, via action r

esear

ch, fr

om students who used the

plan. Finally

, some key points and r

esour

ce issues ar

e

highlighted.

Dr Paul Mahar

g is Senior Lectur

er in Law in the Centr

e for

Pr

ofessional Legal Studies, University of Strathclyde. He

teaches on under

graduate courses, but his

primary r

esponsibility is pr

ofessional legal education on the

Diploma in Legal Practice in the Glasgow Graduate School of Law

. He is particularly inter

ested in developing students’

skills in taking r

esponsibility for their own learning as well

as how curriculum design and delivery

can be enhanced by

C&IT

.

mahar

[email protected]

• learning outcomes • performance criteria • subject-specific skills • performance skills development • pr

ofessional skills development

• r

eflective loop

• feedback loop • summative assessment • cr

Context to the Action Plan: pre-existing counselling

arrangements and documentation

Recently in the department of Law and Public

Administration, ther

e existed a system of

counselling or advice which is a variant of what exists in other departments in the university and pr

obably in other institutions as well. Under this system, students wer

e assigned to staf

f

in their first year

, and ther

e was a r

equir

ement for staf

f and students to meet each other at least

once during this first year

, and pr

eferably mor

e than once. In subsequent years of their academic

car

eer

, students wer

e allocated an academic counsellor in the department, but ther

e was no

requir

ement to meet with him or her

.

In the department, counselling sessions tended on the whole to be occasions in which staf

f

gave advice on a range of matters to do with academic af

fairs — student option choices,

attendance at seminars, etc. Students learned that their advisor was ther

e to be contacted should

they have any pr

oblems at home which could af

fect their academic work, and should they

encounter pr

oblems in their academic work in the university

. On occasion, students would

consult with their counsellors r

egar

ding these matters, and it was then ther

e was the possibility

that the sessions could take on mor

e of the sense of r

eal ‘counselling’, rather than discussions of

options and the like. In one form or another

, this system is pr

evalent in many universities; but the term ‘counselling’

draws attention to some drawbacks in it wher

e it exists in the form described above. In the first

place, ‘counselling’ is not strictly descriptive of the content of such meetings. Mor

eover

, staf

f

ar

e not trained in counselling or advising techniques; and if students come to them with major

domestic or personal pr

oblems they ar

e generally r

eferr

ed to counselling services elsewher

e

within the university

. Secondly

, such counselling r

egimes tend on the whole to be r

eactive

only

. Counselling academics act when they become awar

e of their students’ pr

oblems, and

students come to see their counsellors only when they encounter pr

oblems, and ar

e seeking

short- or longer

-term solutions that r

equir

e the help of a member of staf

f. Mor

eover

, some

students ar

e sometimes r

eluctant to come forwar

d unless in extr

emis because of the pr

esence of

the power r

elationships that inevitably exist between staf

f and students. Seldom is ther

e any

emphasis on the pr

oactive r

ole of a counsellor

, mainly because of the definition of the r

ole.

Thir

d, the r

ole of the counsellor is strictly bounded within the curriculum. It does not feed

dir

ectly into the normal teaching of staf

f or the learning of students.

The r

eactive natur

e of the counselling session was mirr

or

ed in the documentation with which

academic counsellors logged the sessions in the department of Law and Public

Administration.

This was an

A4 sheet with a number of boxes in which staf

f r

ecor

ded the interview with a

student. Normally

, in r

eal counselling envir

onments, what documentation ther

e is tends to be

either primarily administrative in natur

e, or for the use of the practitioner in r

eflective notes.

However

, the academic counselling documentation logged student pr

oblems, identified and

agr

eed via staf

f-student contact. The next year

, a new counsellor was appointed, and a new log

begun. But with each passing year

, the opportunity was lost to build up a portrait of the student

fr

om year to year

, not mer

ely for staf

f, but primarily for the student. Such a portrait could have

been an important ‘pr

ocess’ document which charted pr

ogr

ess in interpersonal contexts such

as gr

oup-work and the like. Normally this is dif

ficult to assess acr

oss years, particularly because

modular systems can r

ender it dif

ficult to track the assessment of interpersonal activities acr

oss

the curriculum.

Kept systematically

, the content of the log described above was composed of private notes for

the counsellor

. It was not descriptive of, or intended to describe, students’ understanding of

skills and knowledge acquisition, and their understanding of details that may cast light upon why they felt or did things.

Above all, it was a list of pr

oblems, defalcations, failur

es; and as

such, could be described as a pessimistic document. This ar

ose fr

om the r

eactive and tr

ouble-shooting natur

e of the academic counselling in which staf

f and students played out their r

oles.

But it also, and inevitably

, arises fr

om an epistemological view of what constitutes educational

knowledge, events and interactions. For the most part in higher education, these take place in what one might r

egar

d as formal educational settings — seminar r

ooms, lectur

e theatr

es, libraries

or laboratories - and not in one-to-one counselling sessions. Formal educational settings inevitably constrain the natur

e of the learning undertaken by students because they appr

opriate

it to physical spaces within the university

, and to specific forms of interaction between students

and students, and students and staf

f. Such constraints ar

e always pr

esent within any learning

envir

onment, and their ef

fects have long been r

ecognised by educationalists, such as Dear

den

(1976), p12, and Carr & Kemmis (1986), pp1

12-13. However many of the r

ecent innovations in

teaching, learning and assessment have had the ef

fect of intr

oducing new forms of learning

-gr

oupwork, collaborative learning, learning contracts, online learning, for example - that r

e-define types of interactions and events used in learning. Personal development planning is one such form of learning. It is a form at least part of whose roots can be traced to the literatur

e of student-staf

f interaction.

As a r

ecent study shows, students

tend to see lectur

ers as potential sour

ces of help, not only with academic pr

oblems, but for help

with personal pr

oblems (Grayson, Clarke & Miller

, 1998). This cr

eates expectations which, if

not met, tend to r

educe the quality of the learning envir

onment.

As Grayson et al put it, ‘[w]e

would speculate that ther

e will be an incr

easing mismatch between what students expect and

want (in terms of support fr

om tutors) and what tutors ar

e in practice able to of

fer

’.

A

thir

d of the students wer

e still unclear about the purpose of the Plan, so clearly this needed to

be clarified. The point about r

egistration is mor

e pr

oblematic.

As administrative pr

ocedur

es

then stood in Caledonian, it would have been very dif

ficult to have transferr

ed Registration

information to the Plan, even for such a small gr

oup of students. However it is not impossible

to mark up electr

onic text on a form (whether typed or scanned) and to transfer it electr

onically

fr

om one form to another

, and such a pr

ocedur

e would certainly help students to draft their

Plan. For a good example of how this might be planned within a web envir

onment, see http://www .scit.wlv .ac.uk/university/r oa/r oa.html

This Plan, developed at the University of W

olver

hampton, is generic, and does not seem to be

linked to specific pr

ogrammes of study or disciplines; but gives a sense of the type of interactivity

which is possible online.

Description of the Action Plan

The

Action Plan is a modest example of an instr

ument that was designed to:

•

Enable students to integrate social, personal and academic domains

•

Chart the development and integration of skills acr

oss modules

•

Facilitate the adoption of a new r

ole for staf

f in advice situations.

These thr

ee together may appear ambitious and far

-r

eaching aims for such a r

elatively simple

idea, and document, but it was an underlying principle of the document that none of these thr

ee can be achieved to any gr

eat extent without taking into account the other two. The key

characteristics underlying the aims wer

e those of interaction and integration, both of these

arising fr

om a study of the educational literatur

e in the field of student development instr

uments.

In the next section I shall describe the educational backgr

ound to this, and the models upon

which the

Action Plan was based.

Function and Use

The document is thirteen pages long at pr

esent, and consists for the most part in sections that

the student fills out befor

e meeting with the counsellor

. Some of the sections ar

e filled out

during the counselling session, while others ar

e filled later

.

Part A

consists of an analysis of acquir

ed abilities, skills and achievements, as defined by a

statement of:

•

academic achievements

•

work experience

•

inter

ests

•

personal qualities

•

health

Part B

is given over to an analysis of educational and car

eer aims, as defined by statement of:

•

occupational goals

•

personal transferable skills

•

how the university could help attain/impr

ove the above two statements

Part C

consists of an analysis of personal tar

gets and means of achieving them by:

•

brainstorm (individual)

•

priority list (with counsellor)

•

updates thr

oughout the year

In contrast to pr

evious counselling documentation which lay in staf

f filing cabinets, students

exer

cised their right to the information in the Plan by having physical possession of it, if they

wished. They gave it into staf

f safe-keeping only if they want to, and if staf

f wanted to copy it,

they r

equir

e student permission, though staf

f would make their own notes too. In this way I

hoped to signal to students that this was not just an administrative document, but a valuable and above all a personal document. Students wer

e asked to update the information as and when it changed. The information they

logged in the Plan was then fed into a number of modules at key points in the curriculum. Refer

ence was made to it in a level one Legal Skills module, in the writing skills unit, which

was developed in a level two module. Further on in the curriculum, in a thir

d level module

called Clinical Legal Skills, it was planned that students would have used the information in their Plans to constr

uct CVs dir

ected at ar

eas of employment they had outlined in their Plans,

and covering letters which identified the key elements in their personal and employment experience which wer

e r

elevant to the simulated job application. T

o

an extent this alr

eady

happened as an activity in the Legal W

riting Skills unit, wher

e it is used as an example of the

importance of transforming writer

-centr

ed ideas and feelings into r

eader

-based pr

ose which

deals with audience expectations and needs. The

Action Plan, though, would have allowed

students the space to think about how the academic curriculum, together with their employment recor

d and their social life, was interacting to cr

eate their futur

e. In the pr

ocess, students’

potential for marketing their skills and knowledge would have been enhanced. In one sense the Plan helped students considerably to write r

eader

-centr

ed CVs. In such

documents, activities tend to be snapshots, lacking in context and experiential r

esonance. Since

the Plan is cumulative over the period of under

graduate study

, the inclusion of its historical

dimension was designed to add depth to the activity of pr

oducing the CV

. Mor

eover

, the

Action

Plan is one method of pr

esenting a portrait of students acr

oss the curriculum. Most modules

the students took wer

e one semester in length, and in the thick of assessments and assignments,

students could find it dif

ficult to give serious thought to pr

ogr

ess in personal skills and personal

goals except as a mar

ginalised activity

, in between mor

e for

egr

ounded activities in the curriculum

such as module assessments. Beyond self-marketing, though, I found that the Plan functioned as a script for the interview with students in which I could explor

e the issues that ar

ose. Discourse theory teaches us how

people shift in their narratives fr

om episodes or isolated events to the per

ception of these events

as instances of a general pattern, to script formulations, consisting of what that pattern might be composed (Schank, R.c &

Abelson, R.,1977, and Nelson, K.,1986). Script details ar

e cr

eated

within r

epeated and situated accounts of experience. In the Plan, these wer

e first narrativised

then r

eformulated in interviews. Such dialogic r

eformulations serve two useful purposes. First

they str

engthen the tr

ust and integrity between staf

f and students. Second, they signal the

importance of the interpersonal context of learning to students, and the links between academic and personal skills, between social and intellectual learning.

Resource Implications

The key r

esour

ce implications ar

e as follows:

For Staf

f:

Curriculum development The

Action Plan was designed to work within a context in which it would be embedded within

a coher

ent skills-based str

uctur

e in the curriculum. This is cr

ucial to its success. However

ther

e ar

e r

esour

ce implications in the amount of time needed to map out the implementation of

the Plan within the curriculum, and to persuade colleagues of its usefulness. On its own, the Plan is bar

ely worth the ef

fort of implementation: its success is cr

ucially dependent on its

integration in the curriculum. Staff time and development opportunities The use of the Plan with students r

equir

es staf

f to r

ead the Plan in advance of their interviews

with students, and to spend mor

e time discussing it with students than they might otherwise

do. This also raises the question of training. While use of the Plan does not amount to a counselling event, it does r

equir

e staf

f to be awar

e of best practice in discussing the interface of

personal and academic with students.

For Students:

Time to complete the Plan As will be evident below

, students did feel that completing the Plan was time-consuming.

Purpose of Plan Students need to be clear about the purpose of the Plan and the way in which it will be used in the curriculum. This needs to be clarified for them in course documentation, andemphasised by staf

f in specific modules.

Student Feedback

The

Action Plan was piloted with one gr

oup of first year students (12 in number), and qualitative

feedback was obtained fr

om them, and their answers coded using a coding frame. Students

used it thr

oughout one year

, and the Plan was used in level one and two Legal Skills classes.

Students wer

e asked first of all what they did not like about the Plan. Their r

esponses wer

e as

follows:

•

Quite a lot to fill in (5)

•

Gave all this information befor

e when I r

egister

ed (4)

•

Not sur

e why I need to give all this information (4).

Students wer

e then asked to comment on what they liked about the Plan:

•

Helped me to talk about what I wanted to do [later in life] (7)

•

Made me r

ealise how I wasnít pr

epar

ed for university and how I could be

mor

e pr

epar

ed (5)

•

Helped me r

eview pr

evious employment (3)

I was surprised that few students thought the Plan helped them to r

eview pr

evious employment,

particularly as this formed quite an important part of many of the discussions. It may be that for students, much part-time and holiday employment is short-term, and does not deserve much analysis in their eyes. Just over half the students, however did feel that the Plan helped to clarify futur

e plans, and to think about the gaps between university and school or further

education and personal life. Next, they wer

e asked to comment on how the Plan had helped them to r

eflect on their university

experience to date:

•

Helped me to talk to [my counsellor] about my experience of school and university (7)

•

Helped me assess str

engths and weaknesses in my studying (3)

•

Don’t see the r

elevance of it (2)

Her

e again, the Plan had had a significant ef

fect. Students felt that the Plan had facilitated the

discussion about academic context, while a few commented on the helpfulness of the skills- based elements of the discussion. In the context of a r

eport on client interviewing skills in the

level two legal skills module, one matur

e student commented on the Plan as follows:

“I didn’

t r

ealise it at the time when I was filling out the form but it [ie the Plan] does help you think

about your car

eer and what you want to do. I found the interviewing [unit in the module] let me know

what it was like for lawyers and I liked it. When I looked back at the Action Plan I found thatís what I wanted to do and what I thought I was good at

.”

Conclusion and Future Developments

This feedback comes fr

om a very small sample, and clearly mor

e r

esear

ch r

equir

es to be carried

out. Even fr

om this small sample, however

, we can say that the Plan was a qualified success,

and that ther

e ar

e some interim conclusions that can be drawn about futur

e use of the Plan:

•

for students, the Plan is an unusual appr

oach to skills-based learning, and

ther

efor

e r

equir

es car

eful intr

oduction so that they can appr

eciate its long-term

advantages over the short-term ef

fort of completing it

•

it would be helpful if ther

e wer

e some form of administrative integration

between centralised r

egistration r

ecor

ds and the Plan

•

the Plan can be useful in departmental interpersonal initiatives

•

most students saw it as a way of understanding and communicating their past.

•

The Plan may r

equir

e r

edrafting to help them see it mor

e clearly as a tool to

plan their futur

e.

•

Staf

f development would have been essential if it the Plan wer

e to become

mor

e than a pilot pr

oject. Staf

f self-image, for example, plays a r

ole

in the constr

uction of the counselling r

ole. Inevitably

, staf

f bring unconscious

attitudes and values to the counselling session, all of which af

fect the quality of

the academic counsellor

’s pr

esence and, for students, the quality of the outcomes

fr

om the counselling interview

. It would also be fair to say that not all staf

f

may be easy with the concept of the counsellor

, although everyone accepts that

a caring r

ole is essential (Brayne, 1998). If personal development planning is to

succeed at a personal level among staf

f, ther

efor

e, ther

e will be a need for staf

f

development planning.

References

Brayne, H. (1998) Counselling skills for the lawyer: can the lawyer learn anything fr

om

counsellors?,

The Law T

eacher

, 32, 2, 137-155

Carr

, W

., Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming Critical, Lewes: Falmer Pr

ess

Cottr

ell, D.J., McRorie, P

., Perrin, F

. (1994) The personal tutor system: an evaluation,

Medical

Education

, 28, 544-49

Dear

den, R.F

. (1976)

Theory and Practice in Education

, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul

Easton S., V

an Loor

, P

. (1995) Experiences of lectur

ers helping distr

essed students in higher

education,

British Journal of Guidance and Counselling

, 23, 173-78

Fr

eeman, M. (1993)

Rewriting the Self: History

, Memory

, Narrative

London, Routledge

Grayson,

A., Clarke, D.G., Millar

, H. (1998) Help seeking among students: ar

e lectur

ers seen as

potential sour

ces of help?,

Studies in Higher Education

, 23, 2, 143-55

Karabenick S.A., Knapp, J.R. (1991) Relationship of academic help seeking to the use of learning strategies and other instr

umental achievement behaviour in college students,

Journal of

Educational Psychology

, 83, 221-30

Nelson, K. (1986), editor

,

Event Knowledge: Structur

e and Function in Development

Hillsdale, NJ,

Erlbaum Schank, R.C.,

Abelson, R. (1977)

Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding

Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum

Scott, P

. W

atson, D. (1994) Managing the curriculum: r

oles and r

esponsibilities, in Bocock, J.,

W

atson, D., editors,

Managing the Curriculum: Making Common Cause

, SRHE & Open University

Pr

ess, Buckingham

This is a version of a paper given at a COSHEP seminar on Personal Development Planning in Higher Education (Scotland) in November 1997 at University of

Abertay

, Dundee, while the

author was a member of staf

f in the Department of Law and Public

Administration, Glasgow

Caledonian University

.

6

Summary

The University of St

Andr

ews has a str

ong system of student

welfar

e support. Part of the W

elfar

e set up is a volunteer

for

ce of about 25 students that form the SupNet (support

Network) team. These students ar

e supported in keeping a

Personal Development Pr

ofile (PDP) issued as they

commence training for work in the post. Students and staf

f

involved in the SupNet team ar

e committed to the formative

pr

ocess as well as the r

ecor

ding activity

. Students principally

use the opportunities af

for

ded by the SupNet work for

self-development. Neither the pr

ocess nor the r

ecor

d ar

e assessed

formally as part of any academic pr

ogramme. Staf

f view the

pr

ocess as an integral part of ongoing monitoring of the

training of students in their SupNet r

ole and use the r

ecor

d,

with permission, in pr

oviding personal r

efer

ences for futur

e

employers.

Dr Colin Mason is Head of Staf

f Development at the

University of St

Andr

ews. He has long been committed to

enhancing student skills in the ar

ea of personal and

pr

ofessional development planning and is r

eknown for

helping individuals and gr

oups develop and use such tools

as concept mapping. Sally Collier

, supported by Catriona Baxter

, is Student

Adviser

within the W

elfar

e team of Student Support Services at St

Andr

ews, encouraging and supporting students to participate

in the SupNet initiative. Contact: sally

.collier@st-andr

ews.ac.uk

• performance criteria • pr

ofessional skills development

• r

eflective loop

• formative assessment • summative assessment

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

WITH SUPPOR

T NETWORK TEAM VOLUNTEERS

Colin Mason, Sally Collier & Catriona Baxter

The type of paper

-based system utilised is fairly simple and easy for students working in the

SupNet team to commence r

ecor

ding their experiences. It pr

ovides a r

efined ‘tick-box’ type of

recor

d. The staf

f involved in the PDP

scheme ar

e not entir

ely happy (see also Evaluation) with

this appr

oach. Initial student r

eaction to this type of r

ecor

d is very favourable. However

, as

the students develop and become mor

e involved emotionally in the work of the SupNet team

they occasionally fail to complete the r

ecor

ding pr

ocess, favouring instead, to experience the

moment, gr

ow and develop fr

om it. Retr

ospective completion of the PDP

r

ecor

d often occurs

much later in such cir

cumstances.

Box 1 Mission Statement and Aims of St Andrews Student Support Service

_Mission

_{This of}

fice of the Student Support Service aims to of

fer a compr

ehensive, r

eadily accessible and

responsive service in or

der to pr

omote the academic, physical, emotional and spiritual well

being of all individuals within our student community

. The service aims to enable and support

students of the University of St.

Andr

ews and to of

fer advice and guidance in r

elation to:

• Accommodation • Finance • Academic

Issues

• Personal and Relationship Issues • Disabilities and Special Needs • International Students • Ethnic Minority Students • Health and Medical Issues • LGBT Students

These services will be pr

ovided by pr

ofessionally trained staf

f and counsellors and, wher

e

appr

opriate, student volunteers within our strict confidential guidelines. Services will be of

fer

ed

on an individual and mutually supportive basis, dependent on need. The Student Support Service strives to pr

omote equality and will not discriminate against

individuals or gr

oups on the gr

ounds of race, cultur

e, social class, r

eligion, age, gender

, sexual

orientation or disability

. W

e aspir

e to cr

eate a climate in which equality of all persons and

openness to critical consideration of all ideas ar

e encouraged, within the context that diver

gent

points of view ar

e essential for meaningful interaction to occur

.

Context

The University of St

Andr

ews has an integrated central Unit of support for students, the Student

Support Service. The Student Support Service curr

ently consists of four sub-sections including

W

elfar

e, Chaplain and W

elfar

e, Financial,

Academic. W

elfar

e is normally the first point of

contact and deals with everything r

elated to r

outine advice, welfar

e counselling, special needs,

overseas students, child-car

e, contraceptive clinic, and accommodation disputes in the private

sector

. The Mission and aims of Student Support Service ar

e in Box 1.

In addition, a volunteer team of 25 students called the SupNet (Support Network), who ar

e

trained in welfar

e and counselling issues, can be called upon by the staf

f to befriend a student

and give assistance in helping someone settle down in our student community

. The SupNet

also r

un a number of self-help gr

oups and networks for

, amongst others, M.E. or depr

ession

suf

fer

ers, students with eating disor

ders, and ethnic minority students.

The students r

ecr

uited to the SupNet team ar

e encouraged to develop their own PDP

r

ecor

d.

This is a paper

-based system for r

ecor

ding the development of a range of generic (or cor

e/key

skills) thr

ough opportunities pr

ovided by the work involved in supporting other students and

liaising with both the student and other communities in St

Andr

ews. Support and Guidance

for the pr

ocess is co-or

dinated via Sally Collier

, Student

Advisor

. In addition, the Head of

W

elfar

e, Chris Lusk (Assistant Hebdomadar

, W

elfar

e) supported by the Department Secr

etary

,

Maggie W

inton, give advice and pr

ovide r

efer

ences for students based upon copies of

information held in a photocopy of the completed PDP

r

ecor

d.

An anonymised example of a

refer

ence based upon PDP

information is pr

ovided in Box 2.

Description

The PDP

in HE paperwork supports the pr

ocess of r

ecor

ding examples of wher

e personal

development opportunities have arisen and have been seized by students.

An extensive

document is supplied to students. The “Guidelines on Pr

eparing a Personal Development

Pr

ofile”, contains a range of dif

fer

ent information; a self-assessment T

ransferable Cor

e Skills

(TCS) questionnair

e; Skills development r

ecor

ding sheets; and r

efer

ences to study skills and

personal development r

esour

ces such as texts and or

ganisations including the Car

eers

Advisory

Service at St

Andr

ews. The students r

ecor

d the acquisition of skills in a Personal Development

Pr

ofile issued when they commence training for work in the post (See Box 3).

The paper

-based natur

e of the r

ecor

d facilitates student contr

ol of the r

ecor

ding pr

ocess in a

very flexible and personal manner

. The r

ecor

d is very much the pr

operty of the student.

However

, when the r

ecor

d has been completed and students leave the University a copy is

lodged in the W

elfar

e of

fice for staf

f to r

efer to when they ar

e r

equir

ed to write r

efer

ences (Box

2 below).

An example of a completed Skills Development Sheet is supplied in Box 4.

The Student Support Service is dedicated to developing and sustaining an envir

onment which

encourages optimum human development.

Aims

•

T

o pr

ovide support, both emotional and practical, to students in or

der to fr

ee

them fr

om concerns, which may distract them fr

om r

ealising their education

potential.

•

T

o

often be the first port of call for mor

e than 5000 students and 1700 staf

f.

•

T

o pr

ovide crisis management alongside identifying student welfar

e needs and

to r

ealise the development of r

esour

ces in r

esponse to demand.

•

T

o or

ganise internal support strategies for individual students; to link in with

external agencies to develop their services with consideration of the needs of our students.’

These aims ar

e achieved thr

ough the work of a dedicated gr

oup of staf

f and volunteer students.

All staf

f ar

e pr

ofessionally qualified and r

eceive r

egular updating on their training. Needless

to say

, the service is completely confidential, both externally and internally thr

ough other

departments in the University itself.

Box 2 Anonymised Reference

Fr

om: The Of

fice of the

Assistant Hebdomadar (W

elfar

e)

[SupNetters Name] Thank you for your letter of [date] in which you ar

e r

equesting me to pr

ovide a r

efer

ence for

[Name], a task I am mor

e than happy to do.

[Name] has worked for me for almost four years in the capacity of a SupNet (student support volunteer) member

.

As such, she has taken part in extensive training on issues such as

counselling skills, mental health issues, dr

ug and alcohol awar

eness and is fully first aid trained.

She has been involved in or

ganising welfar

e publicity

, managing small self-help gr

oups, helping

run our Fr

eshers’ orientation, and is a valued team leader in our crisis management team

administering first aid etc. during Raisin W

eekend (an annual student-r

un festival).

W

ithin our department for the past two years, [Name] has been involved in managing the

Eating Disor

der network and gr

oup. In this capacity

, she has worked tir

elessly

, both in r

unning

the gr

oup and dealing on a one-to-one basis, usually out of hours, with students who ar

e often

in crisis. I have constantly been impr

essed with the calm dedication that [Name] brings to this

work, while r

esear

ching and building up our information r

esour

ces. Her commitment and

tr

ustworthy appr

oach has been commented upon by many pr

ofessional contacts (W

ar

dens,

local GPs etc.).

[Name] has also been an active member of the Student V

oluntary Service, the Hall Repr

esentative

on the Students Repr

esentative Council, an instr

uctor for the University Lifesaving Club, and

has been a University

Ambassador for two years.

As part of her learning while carrying out these tasks, [Name] has completed a Personal Development Pr

ofile (PDP), a copy of which she will supply to you upon r

equest. This identifies

the categories of ar

eas which she has given thought to developing thr

oughout her time with us.

By examining this Pr

ofile, you will note that [Name] has experience in giving str

uctur

ed

pr

esentations in public, or

ganising team members and leading pr

ojects with cr

eativity and

motivation. She has used self-r

eflection on a continuous basis to analyse her motives, aims and

tar

gets, and she has had to account to us for her decisions - with much success.

[Name’s] practical, written communication and analytical skills have developed considerably thr

oughout her time with us, as you will see fr

om her PDP

. Her interpersonal skills - very

much in evidence at the start of her employment - have been used over and over again, encouraging her alr

eady natural rapport with people. The timing of the dates in the PDP

will

emphasise her ability to keep to deadlines with serious commitment once tar

gets ar

e identified.

The self-r

eflective element of the PDP

has identified some ar

eas wher

e [Name] would wish to

develop further

, eg

when making public pr

esentations, her verbal and written work is excellent

but she r

equir

es further experience in the use of technological visual aids such as Powerpoint.

[Name’s] enthusiasm and adaptability would make the opportunity to learn the only requir

ement her

e.

[Name] pr

esents as ever cheerful, co-operative and eager to help whenever possible.

All in all,

I find her to be one of the most r

eliable people on our team - when [Name] says she will take on

a pr

oject, we know it will be pr

operly addr

essed with a quiet confidence. I tr

ust this is suf

ficient

information for your purposes. However

, if I can be of any further assistance, please do not

hesitate to contact me. Yours sincer

ely

,

Chris Lusk Assistant Hebdomadar (W

elfar

e)

Box 3 Self-assessment and T

ransferable Core Skills

SELF ASSESSMENT

The central focus of these exer

cises is self-assessment. Self-assessment will help you to become

awar

e of your str

engths and weaknesses in r

elation to the transferable cor

e skills (TCS). It is

only of r

eal value if you ar

e willing to be totally honest with yourself.

Self-assessment is quite a dif

ficult process but like other skills it gets easier with practice.

Befor

e assessing

reflect.

Think back on your performance, pr

evious events and r

emember feedback fr

om

others.

Where am I now?

This is the question you will ask yourself once you have completed the self-assessment exer

cises.

If you complete these exer

cises honestly you will have an accurate pictur

e of your pr

esent level

of skills and capabilities.

Where do I want to be?

When you assess yourself r

emember to think whom you ar

e comparing yourself against.

Someone you admir

e?

Y

our pr

esent student gr

oup, your wider social gr

oup or the people in

the company wher

e you last worked? Remember this is your personal pr

operty

, it is ther

efor

e

up to you how you achieve the goals you set for yourself once you have decided wher

e you

want to go.

How do I get there?

Having assessed your pr

esent position you may want to plan wher

e you go fr

om her

e, or

simply log and r

ecor

d the work you undertake during your time her

e.

One note of caution: r

emember if setting a plan to

make goals realistic and achievable.

The following exer

cises ar

e to help you measur

e your performance in TCS. The figur

es () in

Exer

cise 1 r

elate to these dif

fer

ent skills, pr

oviding a measur

e of your curr

ent ability

.

T

ransferable Core Skills

_Transferable cor

e skills ar

e those skills you can develop as a student and transfer into the world

of work. Br

oadly these skills fall into 10 categories:

Presentation Skills.

The ability to give a str

uctur

ed pr

esentation to an audience utilising ef

fectively audio/visual

aids and successfully demonstrating the ability to build up a rapport with an audience.

Analytical Skills.

The ability to collect, collate, analyse, adapt and classify data and to be able to use your r

esults

ef

fectively

.

Creative Thinking.

The ability to develop strategies. to solve complex pr

oblems r

equiring initiative, imagination

and flexibility

.

T

eam W

ork.

The ability to work with others ef

fectively; to exchange ideas as well as giving and r

eceiving

feedback.

T

ime Management.

The ability to keep to schedules, to str

uctur

e your own time and to prioritise your workload.

The ability to complete work to a deadline.

Communication (written and verbal).

The ability to expr

ess ideas and be understood thr

ough a variety of communication media,

including public speaking, talking in small gr

oups or one to one, pr

esentations, letter writing,

reports and telephone.

Leadership.

The ability to or

ganise, motivate and lead others, to take decisions and to listen to all r

elevant

opinions befor

e r

eaching a decision. The ability to accept and handle r

esponsibility well. The

leader ef

fectively pulls a team together to give it dir

ection and purpose.

A

good leader enables

the gr

oup to work thr

ough dif

fer

ences and become high performing, well able to do mor

e

work than a gr

oup of individuals on their own.

Interpersonal Relationship.

The ability to listen and r

eact to the needs of others. The ability to initiate r

elationships and to

build up a rapport with a variety of people.

Practical skills.

The ability to operate machinery safely

, to be computer and numerically literate as well as

showing competence in managing own financial af

fairs.

Self Reflection.

Last but by no means least, the ability to r

eflect on your experiences and learn fr

om them is a

skill, which will benefit you gr

eatly thr

oughout your life.

TCS ar

e very important in work and in life. During your time at St

Andr

ews you will be given

chances to develop and practice some of these skills. It is vital that you ar

e awar

e of their

importance and make the most of the opportunities pr

ovided.

Box 4 Skills Development Sheet

Keeping track of your pr

ogr

ess and the skills you develop will help you when completing a job

application or compiling a CV

.

TITLE OR PROJECT

Running an event

Date

March 1997

Main Purpose/ Specific Challenge

Organising a concert in the Student Union

Main activities engaged in:

Organising and booking bands Liasing with agents etc Setting up equipment, recruiting and organising staf

f & volunteers Making sure publicity

has gone out Organising ticket sales

T

ime Commitment:

Several days and evening of the event

Skills you felt wer

e involved - assessment:

Practical skills

Communication

Organisation

W

orking with others

T

echnical activity

Desk top skills

Motivating volunteers

Resource Implications

The scheme is supported by 3 members of the team in W

elfar

e. The PDP

r

ecor

d is issued at the

time of briefing SupNet r

ecr

uits. One member of the team briefs students on the use of the PDP

and pr

ovides individual support as necessary to assist in completing the PDP

r

ecor

d. The

Head of W

elfar

e uses the completed PDPs to assist in the compilation of specific r

efer

ences for

those students participating in SupNet activities

Student Assessment / Feedback Issues

The

PDP

pr

ocess and not the r

ecor

d, or its completion, is consider

ed the most important featur

e.

Consequently students ar

e continuously engaged in self-assessment of their own skill

development. However

, staf

f in W

elfar

e do pr

ovide informal tutor assessment and pr

ovide

feedback as necessary on students’ development in SupNet work, which by its natur

e is oriented

for pr

oviding opportunities for the development of personal and interpersonal skills. The

PDP

pr

ocess or the PDP

r

ecor

d ar

e not formally assessed as part of any cr

edit-bearing component

of a module or other part of the Universityís degr

ee pr

ogrammes.

Evaluation

Evaluation of the use, the str

engths and weaknesses of the curr

ent system is carried out

informally by staf

f in W

elfar

e involved in co-or

dinating the SupNet team. The staf

f members

involved in the SupNet team ar

e str

ongly supportive of the pr

ocesses involved in PDP

. One

view is that despite the ‘simplistic’ tick-box appr

oach of parts of the r

ecor

d this permits new

recruits to the SupNet team to engage quickly with the ideas behind identifying and r

ecor

ding

skill-development opportunities.

As the students develop mor

e confidence in their r

oles they

become mor

e involved in the satisfaction gained in helping other students and less in the

recor

ding pr

ocess. Because eventually students do still appr

eciate the importance of completing

the r

ecor

d so that others (staf

f) can extract information for use in compilation of personal

refer

ences, the students consequently engage in deeper or at least delayed r

eflection on their

learning fr

om these experiences. However

, the importance of even this belated r

ecor

ding

sometimes only becomes appar

ent to students when staf

f seek information fr

om them in or

der

to be able to comment on the acquisition or development of specific skills and abilities, when refer

ences ar

e r

equested.

The team do not feel that they could support mor

e than the few students engaged in voluntary

SupNet work in this PDP

pr

ocess. The work of the SupNet team pr

ovides an initial focus for

students to engage in identifying skill development opportunities. These pr

ovide a framework

with which they ar

e familiar and allow students mor

e easily to identify such learning

opportunities in both their formal academic degr

ee pr

ogramme studies as well as in other

social activities.

11

Key Advice / Other Benefits / Future Developments

•

Identify key gr

oups of students (pilots, and pr

eferably involving small numbers)

for whom tar

geted support in engaging in the PDP

pr

ocess can be pr

ovided.

•

Identify staf

f who ar

e committed to and skilled in pr

oviding opportunities for

students to develop key personal and interpersonal skills in the work they do with students.

•

P

rovide (or possibly engage students in developing) supporting ‘paper work’ _{to enable students to engage in the r}

ecor

ding pr

ocess. However

, acknowledge

that r

ecor

ding should not be seen as an end in itself and allow students ‘space’

to evolve their own way of r

ecognising their gr

owth and development. This

may not always translate into written r

ecor

ds.

•

Both the pr

ocess, if closely monitor

ed by committed, observant staf

f, and the

written r

ecor

d may be useful for staf

f to r

efer to in writing r

efer

ences if students

ar

e pr

epar

ed to pr

ovide open access to their confidential PDP

experiences and

written r

ecor

d.

•

Electr

onic support in implementing the curr

ent system is both used curr

ently

and can be further developed. For example, template text and database fields are used to pr

oduce mail-mer

ged letters of support or confidential r

efer

ences

for students.

An electr

onic version of the paper

-based PDP

guidance and

recor

ding forms could be used or further r

efined to permit electr

onic r

ecor

ding.

References

http://www

.st-and.ac.uk/~welfar

e/sally_collier

.htm

Collier

, S. & Baxter

, C. (1997)

Guidelines on pr

eparing a PERSONAL

12

Summary

A Portfolio

Appr

oach to Personal and Car

eer Development

is an Open University pack of learning materials aimed at anyone who wants to undertake a str

uctur

ed pr

ocess of

self-assessment and self-development. The pack and an associated 15 point course wer

e part of the Open University’s

contribution to the Employment Departmentís Enterprise in Higher Education (EHE) Initiative. Curriculum development was backed by r

egional OU pr

ogrammes to involve

employers and OU staf

f in supporting studentsí personal and

car

eer development. This paper summarises the

development of the Personal and Car

eer Development

materials and their learning outcomes, the strategy for assessment and accr

editation and the experiences of learners.

Dr Paddy Maher was a lectur

er in genetics at

Aber

deen when

he started to tutor for the Open University

.

A

gr

owing inter

est

and involvement in adult learning led him to join the OU full-time in 1982. In 1990 he became the Dir

ector of the

Enterprise in Higher Education Pr

oject, which pr

oduced the

OU’s Personal and Car

eer Development materials and course.

He is now an

Assistant Dir

ector in the OU in Scotland,

responsible for Quality and Course Pr

esentation.

Contact: [email protected]

• pr

ocess skills development

• pr

ofessional skills development

• r

eflective loop

• feedback loop • formative assessment • summative assessment • cr

edit rating

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY’S POR

TFOLIO APPROACH TO PERSONAL AND

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Paddy Maher