Staffordshire University Personal Development Planning Policy ...

• 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.
Staffordshire University Personal Development Planning Policy
PDP Steering & Implementation Group
December 2004
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