Individual learning plans - in your organisation
Introduction
The unexamined life is not worth living. (Socrates)
We need to recognise that a teacher’s training is not complete when initial training ends. We want all teachers to commit to lifelong professional development, so that their skills are always up to date as the needs of learners change.
Equipping our Teachers for the Future, page 4.
The need for teachers to continue learning, to upgrade their skills, is particularly relevant to the Government’s notion of a ‘learning society’, where post-compulsory institutions are seen as instrumental in bringing about that vision.
The developmental continuum that contains an individual learning plan (ILP) begins with baseline or initial assessment, a diagnostic tool that creates an ILP. This should ideally lead to personal and professional learning experiences and achievements, which help to build up a record of such activities. This record might be called a personal or professional development profile (PDP) and could naturally include aspects of continuing professional development (CPD); expanding skills knowledge and understanding is implicit in the idea of lifelong learning.
Initial assessment
Individual learning plans