What role can PDP play in identity development and confidence building in non-traditional students?

Carina Buckley

doi:10.47408/jldhe.v0i0.96

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of a positive learning identity in students, within the context of communities of practice. It considers the role of Personal Development Planning (PDP) in building confidence in inexperienced learners through its use as a tool for transition, engagement and achievement, and its emphasis on learning communities and peer support. It is illustrated by a case study of FdA Early Years Care and Education students, who have been using the Professional Development Unit (PDU), an online accredited unit developed by the CETL Foundation Direct as a version of PDP for work-based learners. The paper concludes that three aspects of the PDU act together as a forum for the exchange and development of ideas, and in doing so support the growth of learning communities that work to affirm the individual. Guided and structured reflection, beginning with a Benchmark Statement and ending with a 360-degree review, is used as a means for aspiration building, and for marking the distance travelled. Social mechanisms are put in place via the discussion boards of the university VLE for confidence building through identification with a valued group and the use of peers as a learning resource. Finally, the fluid boundaries between the workplace and the university, represented as three overlapping circles of self, theory and practice, allow for integrated learning and the introduction of the familiar into the unfamiliar. The PDU is therefore demonstrated here to be a safe area of the curriculum that supports the development and confidence of the new uncertain learner.

Highlights

The government policy of widening participation (WP) has at its heart a greater accessibility of higher education (HE) to ‘a new constituency of learners’ (MacDonald and Stratta, 2001, p.250), through the promotion of ‘successful participation in HE to everyone who can benefit from it’ (HEFCE, 2009, p.18)
The Professional Development Unit (PDU), with its emphasis on discussion and collaboration, attempts to bring that professional knowledge-sharing from the workplace into academia, and the results of this study indicate that students respond well to it
Through the Benchmark Statement, the new student is not faced with the need to reject or ignore all else that they are, but rather is encouraged to draw upon it and feed back into it throughout the degree

Summary

Introduction

The government policy of widening participation (WP) has at its heart a greater accessibility of higher education (HE) to ‘a new constituency of learners’ (MacDonald and Stratta, 2001, p.250), through the promotion of ‘successful participation in HE to everyone who can benefit from it’ (HEFCE, 2009, p.18). Often defined by what they are not, this constituency of ‘non-traditional’ students instead encompasses a diverse cross-section of society, increasingly challenging the hegemony of the more common school leaver (HESA, 2010) through the on-going WP agenda (HEFCE, 2009) The absorption of these students represents a change in university culture, with those who were once a minority group gradually becoming the norm. The emphasis remains on their enrolment in higher education, rather than on their learning needs once they are there This situation is illustrated by a recent study (MacDonald and Stratta, 2001) indicating that lecturers and teaching staff tend to resist the classification of non-standard students as a group according to their prior educational experiences or social context. By resisting the pedagogical and institutional change required, teaching staff can inadvertently render these students invisible (Bamber and Tett, 2000)

Objectives

Findings

Conclusion