Personal and Professional Development

This report discusses the importance of personal and professional development for higher education learners and provides a personal development plan to acquire the necessary skills.

PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Definition of Higher Education skills and their importance.......................................................3
Skills required to become a HE Leaner.......................................................................................3
Current existing skills to become a HE Learner.........................................................................4
What other skills are needed to acquire ?....................................................................................4
How to develop the skills ?.........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Personal skills refers to the inter-personal or soft skills which an individual acquires for
his/her personal developing. Some personal skills include problem solving, analytical skills,etc.
Professional skills refer to the technical or hard skills which are important for the professional
development of an individual. These include writing skills, computer programming, etc. (Davies,
Curtin and Robson, 2017). This is a reflective report for which Gibbs Reflective Cycle is used
for reference and supporting my reflection. Thus, for developing the skills for Higher Education
Learner, this report shall cover identification of existing skills, what skills are required and a
personal development plan to develop the required skills for becoming an effective Higher
Education Learner.
TASK 1
Definition of Higher Education skills and their importance.
Higher Education (HE) refers to the education which leads to awarding of the academic
degree. It is the post secondary education. The higher education skills are the requisite skills
required to become a HE Learner which includes communication skills, team working skills, IT
skills, decision making and problem solving skills and many more (Moriña, 2017) .
These skills are required for the effective development of the personality of HE learner.
In my perception, a skilled HE Learner performs better than the unskilled one which in turn will
not assure their relevance of knowledge. A skilled HE Learner will have a confidence to fully
participate in activities to give its best performance. I believe that the appropriate skills plays a
vital role in the successful career of HE Learner which makes them different from those of the
unskilled HE Learner. Success is assured by acquiring the requisite skills as it helps in effective
performance which shows the knowledge and talent of the person and prove its relevancy.
Skills required to become a HE Leaner.
In my opinion, the following skills are required to become a HE Learner which are
provided below-
 Team working skills- These are the skills which are required to build an effective team
which can perform effectively in requisite time and has capacity of listening and patience.
 Academic writing skills- It requires a formal tone with good research quality who is
capable of following a formal structure and format to show its relevance of knowledge.

 Presentation skills- It is required to deliver engaging and effective presentation to the
audience.
 Communication and it skills- Communication skills involves becoming a good listener
with a correct body language and use of right gestures and eye contact in order to
communicate well. IT skills involve knowledge of programming together with technical
skills which will help in interacting with the team.
 Problem solving- It includes active listening, team building, creativity and ability to
identify the problem and finding quick solutions.
 Decision making- It involves making the right decision at the right time which shall
benefit the task or problem given (Restuccia and Taska, 2018).
Current existing skills to become a HE Learner.
According to me, for becoming an effective HE Learner I have the following skills which
will benefit my relevance of knowledge, which includes presentation skills, team working skills
academic writing skills and problem solving skills. I have the ability to present my views in order
to convince the audience so that I can deliver my knowledge effectively. In my opinion, I am
also benefited with the team working skills where I take my team forward with good leadership
quality and take care of the team members with providing the required resources for their
efficient working. In order to solve the problem, I am blessed to give quick solutions which help
in time management and efficient performance for delivering the knowledge to the best of my
capability.
What other skills are needed to acquire ?
According to me, I lack the communication skill, decision making skill and IT skills. I
lack the ability to effectively communicate with my peers and colleagues which results in
inefficient performance. I am unable to come to a decision as I feel confused and my mind is full
of mixed opinions which in turn troubles me to make an effective decision. This delay in
decision making results in inefficient performance and becomes hurdle in my success and
growth. Another skill which I lack is the IT skills, which is an important skill in this
digitalisation era. I believe that it is a technical skill but I need to acquire this in order to deliver
my knowledge.

How to develop the skills ?
In order to develop the skills for an effective HE Learner, According to me, personal
development plan is best. It refers to an activity or may be a process which establish an action
plan to overcome the weakness and build the capability to perform the allotted responsibilities
and roles (Stewart, 2016). The following is the personal development plan-
Sr
no.
Learning
Objective
Current
Proficiency
Target
Proficiency
Development
opportunities
Judging
criteria
Time scale
1 Communication
skills
I have lack
of good
communicat
ion skills
which
becomes
hurdle in
delivering
my
knowledge.
In order to
deliver my
knowledge
and
understand
the outcome
of my
audience, I
need to
acquire good
communicati
on skills.
I can develop
this skill
through books
or lecture notes.
The criteria
for judging
shall be
feedback
from my
audience,
peer and
colleagues.
1 month
2 Decision-
making skills
I lack in
making a
quick
decision due
to mixture
of opinions
which
confuse me
to take right
decision.
In order to
manage time
and deliver
efficient
performance,
I need to
acquire this
skill.
I can develop
this skill by
initially making
practice
decisions from
case studies and
then making my
own decisions.
The judging
criteria shall
be the
outcome
from my
decision.
2 months
3 IT skills I am an I desire to I can develop The judging 6 months

Sr
no.
Learning
Objective
Current
Proficiency
Target
Proficiency
Development
opportunities
Judging
criteria
Time scale
average in
IT skills
because it
require
technical
knowledge.
improve this
skill so that I
can make
good
utilisation of
technology
in order to
deliver my
knowledge in
a creative
and
innovative
manner.
this skill by
undergoing
diploma
courses.
shall be
done by my
seniors and
expert.
CONCLUSION
From the above reflective report, it is concluded that in order to become an effective HE
Learner, many skills are required like decision making, problem solving, IT, communication
skills and many more. I lack in communication, IT and decision-making skills which become
roadblock in my efficient performance. In order to overcome this, I can use the personal
development plan in order to become an efficient HE Leaner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Davies, K., Curtin, M. and Robson, K., 2017. Impact of an international workplace learning
placement on personal and professional development. Australian Occupational Therapy
Journal, 64(2), pp.121-128.
Restuccia, D. and Taska, B., 2018. Different Skills, Different Gaps: Measuring and Closing the
Skills Gap. Developing Skills in a Changing World of Work: Concepts, Measurement
and Data Applied in Regional and Local Labour Market Monitoring Across Europe,
p.207.
Stewart, J., 2016. Personal development plan. In Encyclopedia of Human Resource
Management. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Moriña, A., 2017. Inclusive education in higher education: challenges and
opportunities. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 32(1), pp.3-17.