Here's something from somewhere else.....can't remember where - another forum I think.... Sarahx
Personal development plans
A personal development plan will help you to take responsibility for your own career and professional development which will motivate you to develop your own skills and to be aware of your strengths, weaknesses and what training might be required to fulfil your future plans. There are six main steps to creating a personal development plan which include –
1) Consider your skills, strengths and weaknesses – before you can work out what areas you need to develop you need to analyse the skills you already have.
2) Decide which areas you should develop – you should reflect on your current job and think about you need to become more competent in your role, also thinking ahead whether or not you intend on staying in the same role.
3) Create the plan – think about how you can achieve your objectives, whether you need training, to shadow a colleague or take on a different role this then should be given a timescale for the achievements of the objectives. Ensure you set yourself SMART goals –
•Specific – make sure you have thought clearly about what you need to learn or develop.
•Measurable – consider how you will know whether you have achieved what you set out to
•Achievable – make sure your objective is possible, large goals are best broken down to smaller more achievable objectives
•Realistic – be realistic about how and when you can achieve things
•Time-bound – timescales help to motivate, so give yourself a timescale in which you plan to meet.
4) Discuss your plan with others – It is important to discuss your plan with colleagues, managers etc as they may offer advice and support or have suggestions in which you can gain experience or knowledge.
5) Implement the plan – if you have researched well and your plan is realistic then your plan should be straightforward although you may find that a course you were going to attend has changed dates for example and then you would need to change your plan and the timescale given.
6) Review your plan – If you do not review your plan regularly it becomes irrelevant, you may find situations change and the goal you had set for yourself is no longer relevant, that’s why it is important to review regularly so you can think about what you have achieved and what steps to take next.
Techniques of reflective analysis
There are several different ways in which past practice can be analysed such as –
•Question - what, why and how. Have things always been done that way?
•Seek alternatives – Could things of been handled differently? Explore and research different ways of working
•Keep an open mind – Avoid assuming, Be prepared to change they way you work a different way may work better
•View things from a different perspective – Consider points of views from parents, staff and children
•Ask “what if”? – be confident enough to try things differently and to think about things in different ways
•Think about consequences – how changing practice can effect other areas of work and the staff, routines and children
•Test ideas – try out new practices or visit settings that work in a different way
•Synthesise ideas – look at ideas and adapt them to your own settings environment.
•Seek, identify and resolve problems – be proactive in making things work and take a problem solving approach to difficulties.