One of the most important moments of my professional development in semester one was being made aware of my own personal values and beliefs. Before the Value’s Module inputs and lectures, I was unaware of the importance of knowing your own values and how they could shape the world around you. Everybody’s judgement of what is important in life differs, as do people’s beliefs and aspirations.  These affect the culture we live in as values identify individual priorities and determines how people interact and perceive one another. On reflection, I realise that our personal values contribute to our lives in various ways, as they direct our behaviour and determine personal choices. Nobody’s personal values will exactly match with someone else’s as they are unique to the individual through their own personal, social and economical development. I believe it is important to be aware of your own personal values as they can influence the world around you, through your thoughts, actions, and ambitions. I first began to properly consider my own personal values when I wrote my Values Assignment on the importance of Social Justice. Upon personal reflection family, honesty and hard work are the most important values I hold. Before this task, I had not properly considered my own personal values and their importance.

The Standards for Provisional Registration (SPR) indicates the importance of and the ways in which reflection can play a part in the development of the prospective teacher. The SPR 3.4.2 specifies student teachers should “adopt an enquiring approach to their professional practice and engage in professional enquiry and professional dialogue.” I engaged in this professional action through discussion in a small group. We shared our own personal thoughts and feelings on various sensitive topic’s that were mentioned in the values lectures. This helped us to become more aware of our own individual values and beliefs. Another professional action from the SPR 3.4.2 is “evaluate their classroom practice, taking account of feedback from others, in order to enhance teaching and learning.” I think it is very important when on placement to be aware of your personal values as they will determine your professional values. Professional values are complex but identify who we are as teachers in our profession. According to the General Teaching Council for Scotland (2016) the fundamental values identified are: social justice, integrity, trust and respect and professional commitment.

From this critical incident, I have learned the importance of knowing your own values as they determine everything you do in life and will shape your professional development. I am now more aware of the importance of reflection and self-evaluation and how to act upon it. Reflection is a unique and personal process as everybody’s way of reflecting is different.