Evaluating Self-Managed Learning in Personal and Professional Growth

The essay explores various self-managed learning approaches for educational professionals, emphasizing the effectiveness of sustained, collaborative, and reflective practices. It contrasts these with less impactful methods, underscoring the importance of ongoing professional development tailored to specific teaching contexts. The discussion extends to time management techniques, demonstrating their significance in achieving personal and professional growth amidst a competitive environment.

PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK-1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1- Approaches to self management learning and different learning styles.............................1
1.2- Ways of implementing lifelong learning in both personal and professional context..........2
1.3- Advantages of self- managed learning for both individual and organisation......................2
4.1- Work based problem and preferred solution........................................................................3
4.2- Learning styles to overcome the problem and communicating it at various level in
company......................................................................................................................................3
4.3- Time management strategies and its uses by the individuals..............................................4
TASK-2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1- Assessment of present competencies against professional standards and company's goal. 4
2.2- Identification of the own development plan and preferred ways to achieve it....................6
2.3- Identification of development opportunities which will help to meet current and future
needs............................................................................................................................................6
2.4- Establish a personal and professional development idea based upon identified needs.......7
........................................................................................................................................................7
3.1- Short and long term goal and process involved in the implementation of developed plan. 8
3.2- Document the planned activities..........................................................................................9
3.3- Learning against original objective set in the development plan.........................................9
3.4- Development plan as per the feedback and evaluation.....................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
The major objective of “Personal and professional development” is to create and manage
own learning perspective and increase the scope for growth throughout the career of an
individual. It is very important for any person to continue exploring their knowledge and this will
help them to automatically develop tremendous skills. Professional development holds slightly a
different approach (Reeves, 2012). This is related to understanding the roles and responsibility
associated with a specific job and the ways by which an individual can improve their
performance. Some example of professional training can be healthy and safety, legal knowledge,
budgeting or IT training. In context of personal training leadership training, time management,
conflict management, communication skills and managerial training are the basic examples.
TASK-1
1.1- Approaches to self management learning and different learning styles.
Individual needs to follow some basic self-managed learning approaches in order to gain
lifelong development. There can be many ways by which this approach towards life can be
encouraged (Zepeda, 2012). Both personal and professional self managed learning are the most
important process by which a person can discover ways of learning things.
Seminar and conferences- This is one of a very effective techniques of learning.
Through seminar and conferences, people actually gets the opportunity to present their ideas
about some specific topic. It develops the sense of confidence among people to speak in public.
It will also enhance their presentation skills.
Social networks- This includes Facebook, twitter, Instagram, my space and many more.
These sites are used by maximum number of people and therefore they get a platform to interact
with people through chatting (Mizell, 2010). By doing this, individual are sharing their
knowledge with other.
The stability of above mentioned approaches of self- managed learning depends upon its utility.
If people will be aware about it then only this can be effectively used.
Now there can be different learning styles and these are seven in numbers namely visual,
aural, verbal, physical and logical.
Visual- People prefer learning through images, pictures and spatial understanding.
Aural- This is related to music and sounds.
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Verbal- Under this type of learning people choose to use words.
Physical- This kind of learning styles indicates the use of body or sense of touch.
Logical- People prefer the using reasoning or logics.
Above mentioned learning styles can help the individual to learn different things with the help of
different styles (Stein and et. al., 2016). Each styles are not necessarily understood by every
individual but this will definitely guide them to choose one focus towards that particular style in
order to enhance their level of knowledge.
1.2- Ways of implementing lifelong learning in both personal and professional context.
Lifelong learning can be understood as a continuous erudition that will surely contribute
in professional area. Individual can adopt this learning as a part of self assessment in their
personal life through evaluating their own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
SWOT analysis: This can be considered as the most important tool to evaluate about any
individuals personality. This is often known as personal SWOT.
Self reflective learning: This will help the individual to learn new and innovative skills at their
offices (Van Driel and Berry, 2012). This will also develops their personal skills with the help of
all the task, duty and work assigned to that particular person.
Above mentioned ways of implementing lifelong learning in personal as well as at
professional ground can be considered as a very effective method which can help in personal
development. There are several methods for this purpose.
1.3- Advantages of self- managed learning for both individual and organisation.
Benefits for the individual- One of the major benefit of self- managed learning for any
individual is that this will help them to be focused towards their set goal and target. Further, this
will also maintain the level of competitiveness among any individual. They can become
intellectual and therefore, they can seek for higher position within the company. The chances of
getting more opportunities will increases. Their rate of growth will be at its peak point. This will
lead to reduce the errors in both personal as well as in profession life.
Benefits for the organisation- If organisations are hiring the self- managed learning
people then this will surely going to the their biggest advantage. This is because these type of
people can handle the crucial work with ease and confidence (Hunzicker, 2011). They can also
produce best results. Competency of the organisation can be increased and this will lead to create
their brand image in the market. Innovation can be introduced within the company so that overall
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effectiveness of the organisation's operations can be maximized. These kind of people in any
company will surely become a role model for other employee.
4.1- Work based problem and preferred solution.
There can be many problems that can arises within a company domain. These issues can
be major or minor as well. But for smooth running of business, it it the responsibility of the
management to resolve all the conflicts. Lack of management could be one of the major issue
that can arises if I intent to work in any organisation in future (Buczynski and Hansen, 2010).
Given below is the brief discussion about this topic:
Lack of management- It is necessary for any organisation to coordinate with different
functional unit in order to perform better. Therefore, proper management of all the activities
should be there. It can be seen in some companies that they are lacking behind in management.
This can affect the entire operations within organisation. Therefore, it is very important to take
some immediate action in order to successfully run their business. Given below are some of the
solutions to overcome this issue.
Delegation of authority- one of the best way to maintain management activities of the
company to distribute different work to different work as per their authority. This is commonly
known as delegation of authority. Under this, different people will be liable for performing
different task for the organisation (Lumpe and et. al., 2012). This will reduce the level of
confusion in the roles and responsibility associated with a person.
4.2- Learning styles to overcome the problem and communicating it at various level in company.
To overcome the problem “lack of management ” within a company it is necessary to
apply some learning styles. In context of given issue, organisation can adopt verbal as well as
logical reasoning to solve this issue. This is because solution to this trouble can be solved by
using words and their own logics. This will definitely help the organisation to resolve this
problem.
In context of communicating it at various level that is strategic, tactics and operational,
organisation needs to adopt a proper technique. This can be done by conducting a meet up
session with the employees of the company (Evans, 2011). This is one of the effective method to
convey or deliver the message because people can communicate face to face. Another method
can be through mails. This is again serve the purpose of providing solution to the current
problem. Company have to make sure that each and every employee will get same message. This
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is because if solution can get misinterpreted then again this will create misunderstanding within
the company and organisation can work effectively for their own target and missions.
4.3- Time management strategies and its uses by the individuals.
There are many time management strategies that can be used by an individual to manage
their time more effectively. Given below are the basic techniques that will work in this given
respect:
1. To have a clear focus on the way an individual starts their day: One should always have a
definite view of the ways by which they want to start their way. This can vary as per their main
objective for that particular day.
2. Focusing on all the activities that are high-value in nature: One should try to focus on
those activities that create high level of value. This will make sure that the time has been fully
utilised.
3. Do not indulged in multi- task work: People will never try to attempt a number of task at
particular time (Wilson, 2013). This will reduce the efficiency of work.
4. Minimize the level of interruption: There should be no irrelevant interruption when a person
is trying to perform any task.
5. To keep record of the entire day: Keeping the record of actions that is done by an individual
in a day help them to review their own performance.
Among all the above mentioned time management techniques, I will prefer the very first
one that is to start my day with a clear objective. This will definitely save my time.
TASK-2
2.1- Assessment of present competencies against professional standards and company's goal.
Evaluation of all the skills can give a brief about an individual effectiveness with respect
to their standard and the objective of the company. For instance, I am working at a post of senior
H.R manager in a retail company, then it is very essential for me note down all my core skills
and competencies (Calderhead, 2012). I m responsible for meeting human resource requirement
and their maintenance in the organisation. Therefore, I need to posses some specific traits that
can fit with my profession. Given below is the C.V that is reflecting my major competencies.
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Career objective- To work in a promising and growing organisation where I can use my skills
and knowledge to work for the company and learn even more.
Personal details
Name- ABC
Address- Street number- 20, great house, U.K
Date of birth- 21/3/1990
Phone number- 123456789
Email id- [e-mail]
Education
primary education: 70 % in 10th
Secondary education- 75% in 12th
Graduation- 74%
Core competencies and skills
Sense of responsibility
Commitment towards career
Teamwork
Leadership
Decision making ability
In order to meet current objective of my job profile I need to know my technical edge as well as
the core competencies with which I can achieve my target in context of company (Hochberg and
Desimone, 2010). All the major skills that will be needed by any individual if they are planning
to get the job in future have been discussed above.
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2.2- Identification of the own development plan and preferred ways to achieve it.
Self development plan is very essential in order to improvise my own capabilities. This
will enhance my personal skill and thus I would be able to perform best in the organisation.
Given below is my own development plan.
Personal development plan
Opportunities available Activities required Duration of time
Leadership In order to build leadership
quality in me, I need to join
some leadership enhancement
classes which will definitely
help me to guide other
subordinates.
4 months.
H.R planning This can be done by taking a
proper course of human
resource planning.
5 months
Analytical skills These skills can be grasp with
the help of learning all
analytical tactics. This can be
achieved by joining some
analytical classes.
2 months.
People need to have an arrangement of inventory in order to full fill the objective of an
activity associated with developing personal development plan (Capps, Crawford and Constas,
2012). This can be achieved by reading some books and joining those classes which can improve
the knowledge and skills of any individual.
2.3- Identification of development opportunities which will help to meet current and future needs
In order to meet both current as well as future needs of development plan, there has to be
some opportunities available for an individual. These opportunities can foster the capability
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within an individual to improve their skills and competencies. Given below are the major
development opportunities:
Communication skills- As I have taken H.R as my profession in respect of this report.
Therefore, in order to meet main object of this mentioned occupation, I need to be maintain my
fluency and I also have a very good command over language. This can only improve my
communication skills.
Team management- This can be achieved by following some basic concept that can
enhance team management skills within an individual. This opportunity can effectively helps a
person to achieve their professional target.
Leadership quality- This is a very major development opportunity that can arise when
an individual starts working on the improvement of their leadership skills.
Analytical skills- Having analytical skill can foster the overall competency with an individual
(Capps, Crawford and Constas, 2012). It is very important to develop these skills so that when
needed they can use it in their preferred profession.
2.4- Establish a personal and professional development idea based upon identified needs.
Personal and professional development plan
Target Ways to achieve
target
Material required Estimated time
Leadership This competency in
me can be improved
by taking initiatives on
various platforms. By
reading books of
leadership approaches
can also help me to
build this concept in
For this purpose,
different books written
by great leaders can
motivate me.
Therefore, I need to
segregate my time as
per this concern.
For developing
leadership skill, I will
need maximum four
month and after this I
can use all techniques
used by a leader.
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me.
Team management One of the very
effective way of
achieving team work
spirit by indulging in
team based games.
Games like football
will help in achieving
the objective derived
from the work.
For attaining this
target, I will be
needing two to three
months.
Analytical skills One of the major
concept under this can
be all mathematical
tools that I will be
needed for the
calculations.
For this context, tutors
can help me to sharp
my analytical skills.
Two to three month of
time duration will be
sufficient for
developing this skill in
me.
3.1- Short and long term goal and process involved in the implementation of developed plan.
Personal development plan have successfully influences me to create my short term and
long term goal. Given below is the documentation that can improve my short term and long term
activities.
Development that is strictly based upon short term duration
H.R planning It will maximum take five month
Team management Maximum duration of time will be three month
leadership This will take four month in general
Development plan that is based upon short term duration
Analytical skill This can be achieved in short duration of time
within two months.
There can be many activities and process that can be involved in making my development plan.
One of the major factor can be determination. If I am determined about achieving my target, then
this will automatically help me to attain my goal (Buczynski and Hansen, 2010). Second can be
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the the above presented plan with the help of which I can actually work upon my several skills
and competencies. Process of evaluating develop plan can be started as when I decided to build
personal and professional development efficiency within me. Therefore, all the above evolutional
will surely help me to achieve my target.
3.2- Document the planned activities.
Given below is the documentation in which sequence of all the core skills and
competencies have been mentioned.
Core skills and competencies Sequence
Team work 1
Leadership skills 2
H.R planning. 3
Analytical skill 4
As in the above mentioned table, it can be clearly seen that all the skills need to be
documented in such a manner in which they can be prioritize. According to my developed plan, I
have design a set pattern in which these competencies can be adopted . This will depend upon
their their time duration and importance (Lumpe and et. al 2012). As I need to learn the
effectively of team work, therefore, I will give my full attention to this factor first. Then as
suggested in the above table I will move towards learning skill, H.R planning and at last
analytical skill.
3.3- Learning against original objective set in the development plan.
It is one of the very important factor that is to measure my personal learning in order to
successfully implement the development plan (Evans, 2011). This can actually reflects my
current status against learning. Given below is an evaluation with the help of which I can analyse
the requirement to focus more on the development opportunities.
Development opportunities Critically evaluation of these factors out of
10
Leadership skills 8
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H.R planning 7
Team management skills 6
Analytical skills 5
On the basis of above critical evaluation of development opportunities, it is found that I
need to work more upon analytical skills as its just 5 out of 10. On the other side side I have
scored 8 out of 10 in leadership skills, therefore, this is quite satisfactory. In H.R planning and
team management I have managed to score 7 and 6 respectively. In overall there is a scope of
improvement in each and every single factor. This evaluation have make it very clear to self
evaluate my performance.
3.4- Development plan as per the feedback and evaluation.
As per the major evaluation in the development program, I need to to update my plan
related to development. As for instance, I have considered H.R as my profession and therefore on
the basis of feedback I will have to alter my plan. This is important so as to to maintain the
efficiency of my plan (Wilson, 2013). I have to evaluate and implement all H.R theories in order
to successfully work for development plan. Skills like team management, leadership and
analytical are the basis for improving my overall performance. Therefore, as per the above
mentioned factors I can actually achieve the target of this approach.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of this report, there is an evaluation and understanding of personal and
professional development can be made. There are several approaches to self- managed learning
and also the availability of several learning style makes it more clear for any individual to work
upon their own development program. There can also be some time management techniques with
the help of which an individual can manage their work. Therefore, it is very important for any
person to focus upon their personal as well as professional development in order to survive in
this competitive world.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Reeves, D.B., 2012. Transforming professional development into student results. Ascd.
Zepeda, S.J., 2012. Professional development: What works. Eye on education.
Mizell, H., 2010. Why Professional Development Matters. Learning Forward. 504 South Locust
Street, Oxford, OH 45056.
Stein, M.K and et. al., 2016. Implementing Standards-Based Math Instruction: A Casebook for
Professional Development. Teachers College Press.
Van Driel, J.H. and Berry, A., 2012. Teacher professional development focusing on pedagogical
content knowledge. Educational Researcher, 41(1). pp. 26-28.
Hunzicker, J., 2011. Effective professional development for teachers: A checklist. Professional
development in education, 37(2). pp. 177-179.
Buczynski, S. and Hansen, C.B., 2010. Impact of professional development on teacher practice:
Uncovering connections. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(3), pp. 599-607.
Lumpe, A and et. al., 2012. Beliefs about teaching science: The relationship between elementary
teachers’ participation in professional development and student achievement.
International Journal of Science Education, 34(2). pp. 153-166.
Evans, L., 2011. The ‘shape’of teacher professionalism in England: Professional standards,
performance management, professional development and the changes proposed in the
2010 White Paper. British educational research journal, 37(5). pp. 851-870.
Wilson, S.M., 2013. Professional development for science teachers. Science, 340(6130). pp. 310-
313.
Calderhead, J., 2012. The contribution of research on teachers' thinking to the professional
development of teachers. Research on teacher thinking: understanding professional
development. London. pp. 11-18.
Hochberg, E.D. and Desimone, L.M., 2010. Professional development in the accountability
context: Building capacity to achieve standards. Educational Psychologist, 45(2). pp.
89-106.
Capps, D.K., Crawford, B.A. and Constas, M.A., 2012. A review of empirical literature on
inquiry professional development: Alignment with best practices and a critique of the
findings. Journal of science teacher education, 23(3). pp. 291-318.
Online
Personal and professional development. 2017. [online]. Available through
<https://www.ppd.admin.cam.ac.uk//>. [Accessed on 11th July 2017].
The difference between personal and professional development. 2017. [online]. Available
through <http://brayleinolearning.co.uk/blog/2014/october/09/what-is-the-difference-
between-personal-and-professional-development//>. [Accessed on 11th July 2017].
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