Staffordshire University Personal Development Planning Policy ...

Staffordshire University
Personal Development Planning Policy
1. Introduction to the Policy
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is defined as:
A structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning,
performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career
development. 1
1.1. Background and National Context
The Dearing Report (1997) recommended the introduction of Progress Files, consisting of two
elements: a transcript recording student achievement and “a means by which students can
monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development.” 2
In 2000 a policy statement and associated guidelines were agreed by Universities UK (then
CVCP), ScoP, Universities Scotland (then CoSHEP) and QAA. ‘Guidelines for HE Progress
Files’ 3 stipulates that the PDP element of the policy objectives should be operational across the
whole HE system and for all HE awards by 2005/6.
The recent White Paper, ‘The Future of Higher Education’ (2003), also supports the use of
Progress Files:
We want them [transcripts and personal development portfolios] to be used to enable
learners to understand and reflect on their achievements, and to present those
achievements to employers, institutions and other stakeholders. 4
1.2. Key Drivers
• Enhancing employability: PDP-related activities such as self analysis, reflection and
action planning enhance students’ employability as, through engagement with PDP,
students become more self-aware, more able to articulate their skills to potential
employers and more likely to be able to take responsibility for their own personal and
career development in the longer term.
1 Guidelines for HE Progress Files, QAA 2000
2 National Committee of Inquiry in Higher Education (Recommendation 20), 1997
3 Guidelines for HE Progress Files, QAA 2000
4 White Paper: The Future of Higher Education (2003), p52
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• Improving retention: A common reason for students to leave university early is that
they feel they lack the skills or support they need to complete their course or that they
feel disengaged from the academic experience. PDP, through its focus on the personal
development needs of the individual (especially with the support of academic tutors),
can help to remedy this.
• Promoting student recruitment: As employability performance indicators are
increasingly a factor in students’ choice of university, a university with an excellent
record for the employability of its graduates is likely to attract more new students.
• Supporting widening participation: With the increasingly diversity of students now
studying at the University the opportunity to tailor a student’s learning experience to
their individual development needs through PDP (instead of adopting a “one-size fits all”
approach to teaching and learning) is likely to result in greater engagement in the
learning process by students from diverse backgrounds.
• Deepening learning: Facilitating a learning cycle of doing, reflecting, theorising and
planning through PDP-related activities can lead to deeper learning as students become
familiar with the process of reflecting on their learning experiences and using this to
enhance their personal development.
• Bringing cohesion: The modular framework can, at times, lead to a fragmented
academic experience for students in which teaching and learning is delivered by
different people in discrete chunks, with few connecting threads or opportunities for
synoptic work. PDP can be regarded as the “glue” which holds an academic experience
together in a way which is meaningful for an individual student, as students focus on
their learning, their personal goals and their holistic development over time, drawing on
their work-related and extra-curricular (as well as their academic) learning experiences.
2. Stakeholders
This policy is for all students, full time, part time, undergraduate and postgraduate, on-campus and
distance learners, and SURF. The policy will also assist all University staff in their support of
student learning, guidance and progression and their own personal development.
The overall PDP policy implementation and leadership is the responsibility of the Academic
Development Institute who, particularly during the implementation phase for PDP in the University
from September 2004 to September 2007, will facilitate the undertaking of appropriate review and
evaluation of this policy, its use and development.
3. Benefits to Stakeholders
3.1. Students
PDP will help students:
• Integrate their personal and academic development and improve their capacity to plan
their own academic programmes.
• Be more effective in monitoring and reviewing their own progress.
• Be more aware of how they are learning and what different teaching and learning
strategies are trying to achieve.
• Recognise and discuss their own strengths and weaknesses.
• Identify opportunities for learning and personal development outside the curriculum.
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• Be better prepared for seeking employment or self-employment and be more able to
relate what they have learnt to the requirements of employers.
• Be better prepared for the demands of continuing professional or vocational
development when they enter employment.
3.2. Academic Staff
PDP will help academic staff:
• Improve the quality of experience for tutors and tutees when it is linked to personal
tutoring systems.
• Make more effective use of off-campus opportunities for learning, such as work
placements.
• By helping students to be more independent/autonomous learners.
• By creating a mechanism through which career-related skills and capabilities can be
recorded.
• By improving their understanding of the development of individual students and their
ability to provide more meaningful employment references on their behalf.
3.3. The University and Academic Faculties
PDP will help the University and the Faculties:
• Facilitate more effective monitoring of student progress.
• Develop more effective academic support and guidance systems, thus resulting in
better retention and support of students from increasingly diverse backgrounds.
• Enhance their capacity to demonstrate the quality of support they are giving to students
in external review processes.
4. University Commitments
As articulated in the University Employability Policy (2004), the University’s stated aim is to provide
all its students with “the opportunity to engage in a Personal Development Planning programme 5
while at the University, as well as having access to tailored support and relevant opportunities.” 6
While a student’s learning and development through PDP will not be explicitly assessed, in some
cases specific PDP-related activities (such as reflective pieces work or skills analysis work) may be
formatively or summatively assessed or constitute a focus for peer- or self-assessment within
appropriate modules.
This policy is in accordance with the QAA’s ‘Guidelines on HE Progress Files’ (2000) and the
University’s Commitment to Equality and Diversity (2003).
4.1. QAA Minimum Expectations
The minimum expectations for PDP are as follows:
• At the start of a programme, students will be introduced to the opportunities for PDP.
• Students will be provided with opportunities for PDP at each stage of their programme.
5 The term ‘programme’ here refers to a structured learning experience which continues throughout a student’s time at
the University, in which PDP-related learning opportunities (either embedded within the curriculum or supported by
personal tutorials) are linked together in an explicit and coherent way.
6 Staffordshire University Employability Policy, 2004
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• The rationale for PDP at different stages of a programme will be explained for the
benefit of students (for example, in course handbooks and programme
specifications/module descriptors).
• Students will have the opportunity to participate in a range of learning contexts at each
stage or level of their programme.
4.2. PDP Opportunities: Key elements
PDP opportunities will be embedded throughout every academic programme and will contain
the following key elements as a minimum, in line with QAA expectations and a consensus
regarding the nature of effective PDP practice.
At the start of the programme this will include:
• An introduction to the ideas underpinning PDP, its purpose and long-term benefits.
• An outline of the PDP programme (both the curriculum-embedded and the tutorialbased
elements).
Throughout the course of the programme this will include:
• Opportunities for the analysis of transferable skills and professional skills related to the
subject discipline and an identification of skills development needs.
• Opportunities to work on skills students have identified as areas for development.
• Opportunities to identify and set appropriate goals and make longer-term plans for
personal, educational and career development.
• The opportunity to consider personal development in a holistic sense, encompassing all
areas of a student’s experience (academic, work-related, social and personal).
• Opportunities for continuous reflection on learning, skills and personal development,
and to review plans in the light of progress over time.
• Making links with the development of career-planning and -management skills (see
University Employability Policy).
• Signposting to employability enhancing activities and opportunities available at the
University and referrals to appropriate support staff across the institution (for example,
the Careers and Employability Service, Counselling, the Library).
• The opportunity to develop a PDR (Personal Development Record) or a learning
portfolio containing information on a student’s personal, educational and career
development, which can then be drawn upon in job or further study applications.
4.3. Access to PDP Opportunities
The above key elements of PDP can be made available to students by means of:
• Personal tutoring.
• Elements embedded in the curriculum (in modules/pathways).
• Use of a PDP e-learning resource.
Students should have the opportunity to engage in PDP through all of the above where
appropriate; however, the balance between personal tutoring-facilitated PDP and PDP
embedded in the curriculum may vary according to the Faculty/subject discipline. All awards
will make explicit the rationale for how PDP is made available to students on the award.
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4.4. Faculty Responsibilities
Academic Faculties will:
• Ensure that all academic programmes incorporate opportunities for students to engage
in PDP activity in accordance with this policy.
• Ensure that academic and support staff are fully aware of their responsibilities in
relation to PDP.
4.5. Responsibilities of Academic Staff
Academic staff will:
• Provide advice and guidance to students engaged in PDP processes, signposting
where necessary to support services such as Counselling and the Careers and
Employability Service.
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