Personal Development: Self and Work
This unit is designed to help you set personal targets for developing your skills for life and work (task management skills).
You’ll learn to do this by being involved in a vocational (work related) project. You may be working on this project on your own or as part of a team.
You can refer to your tutor for advice at any stage in your project, but you are expected to work with the minimum of support. So that you get the most out of the project it should:
- suit your skills, personal qualities and interests
- be related to your future career plans
The learning outcomes for this unit are (click to expand):
Evaluate my task management skills
For this outcome you will:
- prepare for taking part in a vocational project
- assess your own task management skills (the skills you need to get a job done successfully), using an appropriate technique
- identify skills you could improve while you are taking part in your project, based on your self evaluation
You will learn about the task management skills that are important for your vocational project, but are also important skills for work and life:
- Quality standards: doing a job properly and checking the quality of your own work
- Prioritising tasks: assessing the importance and order of tasks to be done
- Keeping detailed records of work: being able to maintain relevant records
- Estimating time for task completion: being able to predict accurately time for tasks to be completed
You will work out your strengths and weaknesses in these skills and you will then set targets for improving two task management skills during your vocational project.
Review, reflect, record
To show what you have learned you should identify your strengths and weaknesses and your two personal targets on the relevant form.
Your tutor will discuss this with you, give advice and make comments before you use the blog to record evidence.
Form(s) for this outcome:
If you wish, you can complete the following activity(s) to support your learning and use the blog to record evidence.
Produce a development plan
For this outcome you will:
- produce a plan for the development of your own task management skills within a vocational project
Now that you have picked the skills you want to work on during your project, you will work out how you will develop them and make a plan to show how you are going to do it.
You will think about how you could develop your task management skills. Your plan should include details of the aims of your project.
You will:
- identify your own detailed tasks which will enable progress towards achieving your personal targets: think of things you could do to improve the two skills you have identified
- explain the choice of identified tasks: think of the reasons you have picked these tasks
- identify the resources required to complete these tasks: work out how you will achieve them
- identify timescales to complete these tasks: work out how when you intend to carry them out
You can refer to your tutor for advice as you work through this learning outcome.
Review, reflect and record
To show what you have learned you should keep a record of your work.
Your tutor will discuss this with you, give you advice and make comments before you use the blog to record evidence.
Form(s) for this outcome:
If you wish, you can complete the following activity(s) to support your learning and use the blog to record evidence.
Carry out my development plan
For this outcome you will
- carry out your plan for the development of your own task management skills within a vocational project
This is when you identify the resources you need to put your plan into action, check how you’re getting on with it and make changes if you need to, and complete the tasks that you set yourself in the plan.
You will:
- use identified resources: use the resources you have selected to help you make the progress you need to achieve your personal goals
- monitor your progress: show how you are getting on with your plan mid way through and towards the end of your project and getting advice if you need it
- identify action taken as a result of this monitoring: whether you made any changes or carried on as plannedcomplete the tasks you identified in the plan: successfully achieving the tasks you identified
Review, reflect and record
To show what you have learned you should fill in your Monitoring form.
Your tutor will discuss your form with you, give you advice and make comments before you use the blog to record evidence.
Form(s) for this outcome:
If you wish, you can complete the following activity(s) to support your learning and use the blog to record evidence.
Review progress
In this outcome you will:
- look back at what you learned from taking part in your vocational and reflect on the success of your plan for developing your task management skills. And you will think about improvements you could make in the future.
You will:
- Look at the progress you have made towards achieving your personal targets
- Give examples to show the progress you have made
- Outline the strengths and weaknesses you identified in your plan
- Make conclusions about the effectiveness of the plan
- Identify areas for further developing your task management skills in the light of progress made
You can refer to your tutor for advice as you work through this learning outcome. If you wish, you can complete activities to support your learning.
Review, reflect and record
To show what you have learned you should fill in your Evaluation form. Your tutor will discuss the form with you, give you advice and make comments before you use the blog to record evidence.
Form(s) for this outcome:
If you wish, you can complete the following activity(s) to support your learning and use the blog to record evidence.
