During my first semester an important moment that enhanced my professional development was during one of the first ‘Values’ lectures. All the different concepts we explored and new ideas that were introduced to me, made me realise that it was okay to push the boundaries of my own values and see them from an other’s perspective. I remember at one point it felt as though I was having an out of body experience; as though my understanding of values had only scraped the surface and suddenly I’d been exposed to a whole other aspect of what values are and what they had the potential to be. They are everchanging and I finally understood that that was okay. My stubbornness to believe what I was told to be right could be expanded, but only I had the courage to let it; and I feel as though I did. I found this whole process very enlightening, and refreshing, and it made me realise the open-mindedness, that I thought I harboured so greatly, had no limits. This was a critical starting point to my professional development journey.
The ‘Values’ module in particular had me constantly reflecting on and challenging my old habits and made me think about my new ones. It pushed me to reflect on my behaviors and attitudes and encouraged me to be more transparent with myself, as well as others. I appreciate that reflecting can be difficult and challenging, but in doing so I think it enhances your effort, performance and confidence, guiding the way to reaching the goals you have set yourself; which is something I hope to improve on and be consistent with throughout my first placement and for the rest of my teaching career.
