Personal development planning
Guidance 3(xvi)
Guidance 3(xvi) Personal development planning
1. Background/ context
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is defined as 'a structured and supported
process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance
and / or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career
development'
2. Principles
The University’s policy on Personal Development Planning is underpinned by the
following principles:
 Personal development is an important function of HE.
 Systematically reflecting on and recording learning and development is an
important part of students’ developing independence.
 PDP is an activity in which all students should have an opportunity to engage.
 Students will be told about PDP, its value and role in their learning, in advance.
 All students entering the University will be introduced to PDP, and have access to
resources to support it.
 There will be opportunities for students to undertake PDP at appropriate points
of their programme.
 Middlesex graduates will be expected to demonstrate generic (graduate) skills as
well as skills, knowledge and understanding specific to their subject.
 PDP should be closely integrated with a student’s academic programme.
 PDP should take account of subject differences, while also clearly reflecting on
and recording the development of general graduate skills.
 PDP will record academic and non-academic learning.
 Both academic and support staff have a part to play in the support of PDP.
3. Policy
The main features of the policy are:
3.1. PDP integration with programmes
PDP will be integrated appropriately into all UK-based undergraduate and
postgraduate programmes (including franchised, joint and new validated programmes;
existing validated programmes will integrate PDP at next review or revalidation). In
addition programmes at overseas campuses (eg. Dubai) will include provision for
PDP. It will be closely linked to the objectives and learning outcomes of all
programmes.
This approach recognises the wide range of different approaches which subjects may
need to take, and as a integral programme activity, PDP will also help to support
Programme identity and coherence. PDP will be most effective if it is an integrated
part of the student’s programme, rather than seen as something additional.
3.2. Organisation and management
PDP processes which meet the principles and specification of this policy will be
developed and owned by each School (they may vary across Departments, or even
across Programmes), in conjunction, with Learning Resources and Careers Advisory
Service where appropriate.
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Personal development planning
Guidance 3(xvi)
3.3. Recording PDP
Schools may continue to use the variety of (mainly) paper-based logs, journals or
portfolios which have previously been used to record PDP in LOTS modules, but the
University will move to a largely e-portfolio system as rapidly as possible.
The contents of the PDP record or portfolio will remain confidential to the individual
student, unless they choose to provide access to all or part of it. Its contents are
therefore not validated by the University (unlike the Diploma supplement), but may be
used by the student as part of their evidence of learning and achievement, when
seeking employment or further study.
The use of e-portfolios provides opportunities for efficiently monitoring students’
engagement with the process, without infringing their privacy.
The university will provide a centrally-supported electronic portfolio tool, accessed
through My Learning which can be adapted for local use. Schools may choose to use
alternative recording and reflection tools, but training and technical support for these
will not be supported by central services.
3.4. Scope and content of PDP
PDP processes in Schools will support students in all three activities of reflecting
upon, recording and planning their learning and development.
PDP will reflect both the development of generic graduate skills and subject-specific
learning.
In addition to learning which takes place as a result of academic study, PDP will
explicitly include opportunities to record learning developed in other contexts, such as
part-time work, volunteering or student office.
Typical content of a PDP portfolio or record will include:
 Assessment grades and their response (eg what the student might do to improve).
 Formative feedback received by the student, and their response to it (what they
did about it and/or what they learned from it).
 Annual reflection on each module (eg what strengths have been evidenced, which
weaknesses improved, what challenges encountered and resolved, etc).
 Learning achieved outside of university.
 Evidence of developed skills.
 Identification of future development and learning needs.
3.5. Timing and PDP cycle
All students will be introduced to PDP at the b ginning of their programme, by
academic staff in seminar or lecture settings, as part of their academic induction. At
the start of subsequent years of their programme students will participate in an
activity designed to remind them of the value of PDP and to refresh their engagement
with it.
At other times guidance and support on PDP will be made available to students
through My Learning. Programmes, Departments, or whole Schools may wish to
augment this support with additional arrangements or to build PDP more actively into
the students’ general learning experience.
Students will be expected to actively maintain a continual record of learning for each
module. At the end of the year students will be expected to reflect on progress made
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Personal development planning
Guidance 3(xvi)
in all modules of the programme, and to consider their future learning needs and
priorities.
These expectations will be more likely to be met if students are continually
encouraged to understand the value of PDP, particularly in relation to initial
employment. They are also likely to need to be reinforced an element of assessment
to underline their importance. Alternatively engagement with PDP might be made a
condition of assessment.
3.6. Communication
Students will be given information about PDP in advance of enrolment. (This may be
achieved through Bridging Materials, and mention should be made in publicity
materials).
The PDP processes and structures that students will be expected to engage in will be
described in Programme Handbooks.
The rationale and processes for PDP in relation to different stages of study will need
to be communicated to students at the start of each year.
3.7. Development, training and support
For students: introductory training and support in PDP will be provided by the
Programme Team, as part of the academic induction to the programme. Specific input
may also be provided by Learning Resources and Employability Centre.
For staff: The EDU will provide, on request, consultancy and/or workshops for staff
on good practice in supporting PDP.
Full use should be made of the large number of available web resources
resources on the main HE Academy website
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources.asp?process=filter_fields&section=generic&ty
pe=some&id=8
The HE Academy also provides lists of FDTL projects, some of which have explicitly
addressed PDP. The lists can be found at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/1057.htm
The website for the Centre for Recording Achievement
http://www.recordingachievement.org/
A general group for PDP developers and coordinators can be accessed at:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=pdp&D=0&F=&H=0&O=T&S=&T=0
A group sharing information on PDP and e-portfolios can be accessed at:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/PDP-AND-E-PORTFOLIOUK.html
A number of the HEA Subject Centres may have subject-specific resources (School
Subject Centre contacts can provide details)
A number of CETLs are working in areas related to personal Development Planning,
and may have useful resources:
 Bridges: Supporting Personal Career and Professional Development through the
Undergraduate Curriculum (University of Luton)
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Personal development planning
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Guidance 3(xvi)
Creative Learning in Practice (CLIP) (University of the Arts)
(http://www.arts.ac.uk/cetl.htm)
Enabling Achievement within a Diverse Student Body (University of
Wolverhampton) (http://www.wlv.ac.uk/CETL)
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