Second Year
Personal Audit – Consider the important skills and abilities for you from the ‘Personal Transferable Skills’ table
Skills well developed – Highlight Green
Skills to be further developed – Highlight Yellow
Skills not developed – Highlight Red
| Personal | Interpersonal | Communication | Technical | Intellectual |
| Approach Others | Working as Part of a Team | Converse Confidently | Use a Keyboard | Organise and Plan |
| Make Appointments | Demonstrate Commitment | Listen to the Views of Others | Search the Web | Think Creatively |
| Organise Banking | Taking Responsibility | Contribute to Discussion in Meetings | Word Process | Generate New Ideas |
| Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends | Develop Problem-Solving Skills | Debate formally and informally | Use Work-Related Technology | Summarise New Ideas |
| Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle | Time Management | Construct a CV | Handle Numerical Information | Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style |
| Work Under Pressure | Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence | Write Formal Articles/Papers | Be Creative | Reflect on Own Learning |
| Take Risks | Act as a Leader | Write a Project/Technical Report | Drive a Vehicle | Work on Own Initiative |
Where are the opportunities to use/develop/learn these skills? (Transfer from the grid above)
| Lectures | Demonstrate Commitment, Listen to the Views of Others, Organise and Plan, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Debate formally and informally, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Workshops | Working as Part of a Team, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Organise and Plan, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Debate formally and informally, Be Creative, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Tutorials | Working as Part of a Team, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Debate formally and informally, Be Creative, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Discussions with tutors/DOS | Approach Others, Make Appointments, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Organise and Plan, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Reading | Demonstrate Commitment, Search the Web, Organise and Plan, Work Under Pressure, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Develop Problem-Solving Skills, Time Management, Use Work-Related Technology, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning, Work on Own Initiative |
| Writing | Demonstrate Commitment, Use a Keyboard, Word Process, Organise and Plan, Work Under Pressure, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Debate formally and informally, Use Work-Related Technology, Be Creative, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Summarise New Ideas, Write Formal Articles/Papers, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning, Work on Own Initiative, Write a Project/Technical Report |
| Using Technology | Approach Others, Use a Keyboard, Search the Web, Word Process, Develop Problem-Solving Skills, Use Work-Related Technology |
| Library | Approach Others, Organise and Plan, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Use Work-Related Technology |
| Professional Practice | Approach Others, Working as Part of a Team, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Organise and Plan, Work Under Pressure, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Develop Problem-Solving Skills, Time Management, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Use Work-Related Technology, Be Creative, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Summarise New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning, Work on Own Initiative, Drive a Vehicle, |
| Other (Please specify) |
Looking at what I have above and comparing it to what I said last year I feel that either I am significantly more positive about my own abilities or I have improved on a lot of my skills and abilities. I would like to think that it is a mixture of both. I set out to target the red skills, so so those have improved a lot, by the end of this year I would like to be able to mark more of my skills green. I wonder if I am perhaps I am better or worse than I have put myself down as, since I have little to compare with but I am going with my own judgement here.
My Learning Plan
I am going to select 5 skills to work on this academic year and reflect upon at the beginning of third year. Additionally I will try to keep up what I have achieved so far.
I have shaded ‘Time Management’ in yellow. I feel that I am relatively competent here, but I know that when I am a teacher, I will have to be an expert at this. I will have to manage children all doing different things while planning lessons, organising resources, attending relevant meetings and so on. I have to learn to be very good at Time Management, and I think that second year is the best time to hone this skill. It will also be hugely beneficial to be able to use it now, specifically I would like to start making sure I use the library in the time in-between lectures so as not to waste time. I have now highlighted ‘Time Management’ in green as I feel that I have fully developed this skill over my second year. With the increased workload and levels of independence expected, it was important to manage my time effectively. On top of this, I have also found it crucial to use the time effectively, by this, I mean that there is no point in going to the library for six hours and then spend three of them talking to other people; playing on the internet; or otherwise being distracted. I think that it is important to continue with this skill throughout the remainder of this degree and beyond.
I have also shaded Develop ‘Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style’ yellow. I have improved this from first year, specifically I have developed a good note-taking system which I have found to be highly effective. I spent a lot of time last year writing down what was on the slider and nothing that the tutor actually said, which I have now taken steps to stop myself from dong. Continuing on, I would like to develop revision skills related to the exam, as I am not usually good at revising. I have now highlighted ‘Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style’ green/yellow, meaning that I feel some improvement in this, but not to the extent that it is a fully developed skill. I knew that exams and exam revision were not my strong points, but I put in significantly more effort to do better at this than the previous years. I found mind-mapping the information and timing practice essays was a good way of remembering information. In the exam, my grade may have seemed low to many people but I know that it would have been significantly lower, or even a fail if I had not begun to develop these strategies.
Additionally, I have shaded ‘Write Formal Articles/Papers’ yellow. In hindsight, this should have been a focus last year, as I had never written like I have had to at university, but I believe that I have begun to learn how to do this. I believe that it will become harder as I continue through the course, so I should try to perfect this ability before it begins to drag me down. I have now highlighted ‘Write Formal Articles/Papers’ green/yellow. I found that my grades this year have shown that I am becoming more competent in this skill. After a Technical Correction in first year, I try to be very careful with the technicalities, which I think was important as it ensured that I kept the standard of my assignments high. While I do feel that this skill has improved a lot over the past year, I did not feel I could highlight it green, as I think that the expected writing standard will increase and I think that I will need to continue to improve as this course continues.
Furthermore, ‘Contribute to Discussion in Meetings’ is yellow. I believe that I do not do this nearly enough and when I do, it is because I absolutely have to. Sometimes I even pretend I do not know an answer because I do not want to speak in front of people, though I had no problem with this on 1PP1 at all. Often I will think of the answer, assume it’s wrong and therefore not say anything ad discover that I am right. I think that I need to become more confident in my own knowledge and abilities and that now is the time to do so. I have now highlighted ‘Contribute to Discussion in Meetings’ green/yellow. I made a conscious effort not to pretend I did not know answers, as I realised that this was counterproductive to my own learning. I felt that I should try to put myself in situations where I was uncomfortable and try to combat this, and the ‘Interagency Working’ module gave me this opportunity. I had to try more to speak in the group, come across confidently and try to make good contributions to the group, which was made up of people who I did not know well. I found my group were receptive to the ideas and opinions I expressed during the discussions. I feel that this skill had improved vastly since the beginning of second year, and I would like to try to speak up more in lectures and whole class discussions, and then finally be able to highlight this skill green.
Finally, I have shaded ‘Think Creatively ‘ yellow. Part of the reason I have chosen this is that I do not completely know what this means. I think that it is a vital ability, but I am not sure how to do so, therefore by the end of this year I would like to have come up with some examples of myself being creative in order to prove that I can be so. I have now highlighted ‘Think Creatively’ green. I had the perfect opportunity to consider and cultivate this skill in the Learning from Life placement. I was working with a group of primary 7 pupils beginning to support their transition to secondary school. I had to really think about the activities they were doing and how to plan around their very varied needs and abilities, I believe that this involved a lot of thinking outside the box and trying to think about how many ways I could vary and differentiate the same activity for the group so that all of the pupils could join in. I think that this gave me a clear idea of what it is to think creatively, and also how to do so.
First Year
Personal Audit – Consider the important skills and abilities for you from the ‘Personal Transferable Skills’ table
Skills well developed – Highlight Green
Skills to be further developed – Highlight Yellow
Skills not developed – Highlight Red
| Personal | Interpersonal | Communication | Technical | Intellectual |
| Approach Others | Working as Part of a Team | Converse Confidently | Use a Keyboard | Organise and Plan |
| Make Appointments | Demonstrate Commitment | Listen to the Views of Others | Search the Web | Think Creatively |
| Work Under Pressure | Taking Responsibility | Contribute to Discussion in Meetings | Word Process | Generate New Ideas |
| Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends | Develop Problem-Solving Skills | Debate formally and informally | Use Work-Related Technology | Summarise New Ideas |
| Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle | Time Management | Construct a CV | Handle Numerical Information | Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style |
| Organise Banking/Finance | Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence | Write a Project/Technical Report | Be Creative | |
| Take Risks | Act as a Leader | Write Formal Articles/Papers | Drive a Vehicle | Work on Own Initiative |
Where are the opportunities to use/develop/learn these skills? (Transfer from the grid above)
| Lectures | Demonstrate Commitment, Listen to the Views of Others, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Debate formally and informally, Organise and Plan, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Workshops | Working as Part of a Team, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Debate formally and informally, Be Creative, Organise and Plan, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Tutorials | Working as Part of a Team, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Debate formally and informally, Be Creative, Organise and Plan, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Discussions with tutors/DOS | Approach Others, Make Appointments, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Organise and Plan, Reflect on Own Learning |
| Reading | Demonstrate Commitment, Search the Web, Work Under Pressure, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Develop Problem-Solving Skills, Time Management, Use Work-Related Technology, Organise and Plan, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning, Work on Own Initiative |
| Writing | Demonstrate Commitment, Use a Keyboard, Word Process, Work Under Pressure, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Persuade by Sound Argument/Evidence, Debate formally and informally, Use Work-Related Technology, Be Creative, Organise and Plan, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Summarise New Ideas, Write a Project/Technical Report, Write Formal Articles/Papers, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning, Work on Own Initiative |
| Using Technology | Approach Others, Use a Keyboard, Search the Web, Word Process, Develop Problem-Solving Skills, Use Work-Related Technology |
| Library | Approach Others, Taking Responsibility, Time Management, Use Work-Related Technology, Organise and Plan |
| Professional Practice | Approach Others, Working as Part of a Team, Demonstrate Commitment, Converse Confidently, Listen to the Views of Others, Work Under Pressure, Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends, Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle, Taking Responsibility, Develop Problem-Solving Skills, Time Management, Contribute to Discussion in Meetings, Use Work-Related Technology, Be Creative, Organise and Plan, Think Creatively, Generate New Ideas, Summarise New Ideas, Take Risks, Act as a Leader, Drive a Vehicle, Develop Learning Strategies to Suit Personal Learning Style, Reflect on Own Learning, Work on Own Initiative |
| Other (Please specify) |
Looking at the above Personal Audit of Skills and Abilities, I think it is clear that they are predominantly shaded yellow, which means that I feel I possess these skills to an extent but that I have to further develop them. Very few are green and quite a lot are red. My personal Audit probably looks much more negative than others’, but to me, it is positive. It means that I can admit to my weaknesses or points where I lack knowledge or skills and look to improve upon them. I think one of the most important skills a teacher can have is being able to admit their weaknesses and then improving upon them. From this, I think it is very important to be able to ask for help, something I believe that many professionals would struggle to do out of a sense of embarrassment. This is something that I am going to try to remember for my future career.
I think some of the above areas are more important than others and I am going to base my action plan on the ones I consider the most important for this course and for my future professional career.
My Learning Plan
I am going to select 5 skills to work on this academic year and reflect upon at the beginning of second year.
*Reflections on these plans in bold
I have understood from my time on the course so far that it is important for teachers to become ‘Reflective Practitioners’. In my Personal Audit, I have shaded ‘Reflect on Own Learning’ in red. This means that I do not feel that I have this skill. I think that it is very important for me to develop this skill in my future professional career. My goal is that by the beginning of the next academic year, when I redo my Personal Audit, I will be able to shade this in yellow. This will mean that I feel that I have developed this as a skill, but do not consider it to be fully developed, which can be reflected in further goals that I will set for myself. To do this, I plan to practice my reflective writing. I will use the techniques I was taught in the workshop on 7.11.14, the 6 minute write, writing splurge, and ignite, as I found these techniques very useful in writing effectively. Throughout my first year, I believe that I have learned a lot around this skill, especially on the 1PP1 placement, as I had to reflect on almost everything. I learned this year that reflection is not simply writing down what happened, it is a mixture of what happened, how it makes me feel and what I am going to do about it. A good example of reflection in my practice was my reflections on how my maths group was working on placement and how I was going to move on the following day. I now feel confidently that I can shade this section in yellow, as I feel I have greatly improved, but also feel that I can improve upon my current skill set.
I have also shaded ‘Balance Work/Study/Family/Friends’ yellow, signalling that I feel I have this skill, but that I think it needs further development. I feel that, though I can do this, and have been doing so for some time, I need to further improve upon it. Since moving to university, I have found it very difficult to balance various aspects of my life. I have a job, university, and friends, all of which require my time and attention, which is often a struggle for me to balance. I would very much like to be able to move this skill up into green, but even if I do not feel it is fully developed, I believe that I will recognise whether I have improved upon it enough by the end of the year to justify moving it into green. I am planning on timetabling myself in the hope that I will have enough time in the week for my various commitments. A year on from writing this, I believe that I have made a small improvement in this section. I found the most useful way of dealing with it was to leave my job in the November before the exam or essays were due. In hindsight I should not have tried to do too much, and should have been able to prioritise better than I did. However, I believe that half of the battle is recognising this and knowing my own weaknesses before I go too far into second year. I know that I need to be aware of where I tend to trip up and can begin work in second year with a better outlook on this. Because of this, I am going to leave this section yellow, as I believe that is is not yet a green skill and still requires a lot of work.
Additionally, I have shaded ‘Work on Own Initiative’ red. This means that I do not have this skill. I came straight from school, which I think is a disadvantage for me as I have never had to learn by myself as I have found that school tends to ‘spoon-feed’ your learning in a way that university does not. In comparison, I see fellow students who have been to college find independent learning much easier. I am finding this difficult as I struggle to in finding an independent learning method that works for me. I feel that the best course of action is to attempt to develop this skill through speaking to some of the more experienced students and ask them about their techniques in order to better develop my independent learning. Failing this, I will look into speaking with the Academic Skills Centre. I have learned a lot in the past year and have been forced to work on my own initiative. I have come to realise that if I do not do the work, then the university will not chase me up for it, so work simply must be done. I think that this is something that takes a little time to understand as a first year student, so I am glad that it is knowledge I now possess. I found, especially while I was teaching that if I was planning a lesson, or series of lessons, I had to work in my own time or there would simply have been no lesson to teach, neither the teacher, nor the tutor was going to do anyting for me, so I had to get things done. I think that I have vastly improved in this area and am confident in changing this section from red to yellow and will continue to consider this in the future.
Furthermore, I have shaded ‘Take Risks’ in red. This shows that I do not possess this skill at all. I feel this links to the ‘working on my own initiative’ problem as the schooling I received was easy, in that the school was willing to teach us in such a way that we did not have to take risks or think as independently as other students may have had to do in their own schooling. I believe that this has had a negative impact upon my thinking and that I have learned to be lazy at times, and allowed other people to answer the questions instead of taking the risk and answering for myself. I am going to try to be as proactive as possible in future, and risk being wrong in order to improve my independent thinking and ability to take risks. I fave found in the past year that I have had to take risks more often as I have been in situations where is has been required of me. An example is the numerous tutorials in the second semester of first year where I had to speak and answer questions. Also on 1PP1, I had to take a lot of risks in the classroom, but those felt vastly easier than risk-taking around my peers. I think that I can comfortably shade this one in yellow now, and should look to improve my risk taking within university, such as in lectures around my peers.
Finally, I have shaded ‘Work Under Pressure’ in yellow. Signalling that I have this skill to a certain extent but that there remains room for improvement. I have done this before, so I know that I can, but since starting the course, I have found myself becoming very stressed about deadlines and coursework. Therefore, I am going to try to give myself time and try to remain calm about everything in order to work most effectively. I am also considering arranging an appointment with the Academic Skills Centre to see if they have any advice on stress management in order to be as productive as possible without succumbing to stress. Throughout the year I managed to meet all deadlines and did not come too close to the wire on any tasks. I found that it was not always easy, but I am happy with my abilities as they stand. While on 1PP1 placement, I had to work under pressure and I feel that I did so well. I do not feel that I have improved enough to now shade this green, but that does not mean that this section has not improved, I simply believe that there is more work to do beforehand.
