module specification

This core module provides you with the opportunity to build on your professional development from Level 4 – emerging professional identity module. It extends to explore different professions related to early years as options for your future career plans. You will continue to explore this and plan how to develop the skills needed for future progression.

You will continue to reflect upon your strengths and skills, competencies and attributes and continue to build on these through reflection, openness and self-awareness, through target setting and professional development planning. Further professional attributes such as self-confidence, work ethic, dependability, adaptability, responsible, accountability, maturity and technical skills, as well as self-awareness, communication and interpersonal skills, teamwork, initiative, motivation, will be addressed to form the basis of your professional identity development. The aim is for you to recognise how you are more independent, resilient, responsible and pragmatic and to consolidate your professional identity with a sense of pride.

Reflection, and reflexivity, involving communicating with others, based upon one's own and others' skills, beliefs, understandings and views, will underpin consolidating your professional identity. You will consistently be able to demonstrate empathy and active listening skills.

Aims:
To become self-confident and recognise your own skills, competencies and attributes.
To reflect upon and adjust your personal development plan and setting targets to support professional identity growth.
To reflect, and be reflexive, in evaluating your professional identity progress.
To begin to develop some of the key professional attributes, including work ethic, dependability, adaptability, responsible, accountability, maturity and technical skills.

No

In this module you will evaluate your own skills competencies and attributes and will be encouraged to become self-aware and reflexive. Different reflection models will be introduced including Schon, Gibbs and Kolb, in order to help you to plan for further professional development. You will be encouraged to engage in the process of reflection, openness and self-awareness, through target setting and professional development planning, (LO1).

Further professional attributes such as self-confidence, work ethic, dependability, adaptability, responsible, accountability, maturity and technical skills, as well as self-awareness, communication and interpersonal skills, teamwork, initiative, motivation, will be addressed to form the basis of your professional identity development, (LO2).

The aim is for you to recognise how you are more independent, resilient, responsible and pragmatic and to consolidate your professional identity with a sense of pride and so, throughout the module, tutors will encourage you to consider your sense of professional identity, paying particular attention to issues of social justice (LO3).

Reflection, and reflexivity, involving communicating with others, based upon one's own and others' skills, beliefs, understandings and views, with empathy and active listening skills to develop emotional intelligence and literacy (LO3).

Activities to develop, or expand, key academic skills such as engagement, individually or with others, in analysing, critically thinking, problem-solving and research will help expand your entrepreneurial experience and begin to prepare for a range of potential career opportunities (LO2).

In this core module, theoretical input will be through lectures and workshops, group work and discussion. You will benefit from a blended learning approach through the use of WebLearn for supplementary materials, links to E-books, research journals and videos. Reading, research, reflection and discussion are key to teaching for all students and this will be in the context of tutor-led sessions.

Teaching and learning strategies and methods also focus on students own experiences. Weekly tasks and reflective exercises will be provided to support increased knowledge and understanding for all students. For students in placement, reflection of work-related tasks, such as observations, action research, and the use of development planning tools support the growth of practitioners’ professional competence. 

The development of transferable skills in presenting evidence, arguments and points of view to a range of audiences, through a range of media, including the use of ICT also supports digital literacy learning.

By the end of the module you will be able to:

1) To reflect upon your own skills, competencies and attributes.

2) To continue to develop an evolving plan of action of how to develop and build on your skills, competencies and attributes and gain further skills, competencies and attributes to consolidate your professional identity in their chosen area.

3) To reflect and evaluate upon your progress and set targets for the next step in your professional identity development.

An e-portfolio of five diary entries (of 150-200 words each) throughout the module, culminating in a 1,500- 2,000 word reflection of their progress, drawing on their diary entries and evaluating these in terms of their progress and other readings and research they have done. Finally setting targets for progressing into Level 6.

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