As part of the MA Education course at Dundee University we, as students, are set TDT’s (Tutor Directed Tasks) in order to further our learning and expand our knowledge on particular subjects.

Our first task was to read from ‘The Study Skills Book’ by Kathleen McMillan and Jonathan Weyers. This book is a guide to university study and includes chapters on everything from beginning to understand what is expected from you at University to planning for your future after graduation.

Needless to say I was not expecting the first question within the text to be as limitless and challenging as ‘What are your life goals?’ And it didn’t stop there.

This book, even within the mere 32 pages of reading that was asked of us, has caused me to take time to reflect upon the most basic yet most fundamental of questions. Below I am going to record some of my answers so that I may look back over the course of my degree and see how they have changed and how I have developed.

• What are your life goals? My goals are to graduate with an honors degree, to have a career that fits well around family life, to be accomplished in my chosen field and to travel for work to broaden my horizons.
• What career path do you have as your aim? My aim is to become a fully qualified teacher, to be international baccalaureate accredited- opening up options to teach further a field, to further my knowledge and experience working with children with additional support needs and pursuing a career in this area.
• What subjects do you need to study to achieve your career goals? I need to achieve an honors degree in MA Education, take the IB specific modules from second year on wards, choose a Learning from Life Placement in second year that relates to my interest in working with children with additional support needs.
• How might university limit my options? By qualifying with a degree in primary education I am limiting my self to a career in a specific sector. If I wanted to change my mind I would most likely have to return to university to qualify in another field.
• What skills do you think you will need to develop? I need to focus on developing my skills in working using technology, I also need to work on becoming more self confident and assertive. I need to work hard to ensure my spelling and grammar is up to a high standard.

Overall I feel this book is going to be a valuable tool. One I can use to aid me throughout my degree and to challenge me to face up to tough questions that need to be answered in order to develop. It brought areas of self development to my attention by asking me to assess my skills and attributes, and this is something I can regularly refer back to to check my progress against.