Personal Development from a Student Perspective: Introducing and using the NUS Personal Development Benchmarking Tool Kate Little Senior Project Officer NUS UK

Developing our benchmarking tools Five in total: focus on areas covered by the NSS From principle to practice Update and refine existing principles for a new cohort of students Share practice from across the UK Explicitly student-centred and outcomes- focused

Creating the benchmarking tool 1.Research into key areas in the academic literature 2.Combine research with existing NUS principles and take to a focus group of elected student officers from across the UK – agree key areas of focus and gather practice 3.Draw together ten principles and test with practitioner audience 4.Draft levels of practice and consult with stakeholders – focus group officers and relevant sector bodies 5.Sign-off, design, launch!

Benchmarking tool Principles Levels of Practice

Outstanding practice: Partnership Each of the “outstanding” practices involve staff and students working in partnership. This partnership needs to be meaningful in order to work, which means that both groups must listen and be willing to compromise. Some of the principles may be mutually incompatible in some institutions: for example, it may not be possible to achieve “outstanding” in both feedback timeliness and feedback quality if the institution cannot afford more staff time for marking. Have honest conversations with institutional staff about what is and isn’t possible.

Using the benchmarking tools Use with course reps – online or hard copy Start conversations with university or departmental staff about how to move up a square Take to your teaching and learning committee and discuss Adapt and create your own – SUBU Bournemouth did this for assessment and feedback

5 Key Principles 1.Clearly defined outcomes and goals 2.Information, advice and guidance 3.Co-curricular and authentic learning 4.Wider-world engagement 5.Self-reflection and recognition of development

Principle One Clearly defined outcomes and goals The principle that higher education providers and courses should have a clear conception of personal development and learning outcomes, as well as supporting students to create their own personal goals.

Outstanding practice Institutional commitment to graduate outcomes for a modern society, focused on personal efficacy, social responsibility and ethical awareness Collective outcomes agreed in partnership between staff and SU Individual outcomes developed by students and tutors in partnership

Principle Two Information, advice and guidance The principle that students require comprehensive and relevant information and advice on their post- study options, as well as support and guidance to understand it.

Outstanding practice Extensive personal development and careers advice, including ‘atypical’ and alternative career choices, embedded as part of the academic support offer Students are empowered through supportive information and advice to invent their futures Students understand the various forms of support offered to them and how they can access it

Principle Three Co-curricular and authentic learning The principle that personal development happens most when students are engaged in authentic and relevant learning activities, including co-curricular learning.

Outstanding practice Work-based or community-based placements available to all students, linked to course learning outcomes and with the flexibility for a student to co-design their experience in line with their life goals Authentic assessment, formative and summative, throughout the course – real-world problems, student inquiry, collaborative learning and student agency Co-ownership of assessment: students choose topics, questions or projects that both meet the course learning outcomes and fit with their personal projected journey

Principle Four Wider-world engagement The principle that students should be enabled to engage with the wider world beyond their direct studies, and that personal development is about creating modern citizens.

Outstanding practice Students’ awareness of the wider world is challenged and developed to go beyond commercial awareness towards social awareness. Education for sustainable development and social responsibility is developed through active learning in social environments, using the campus and local community as a living laboratory. Enterprise education addresses local social needs. Higher education providers offer interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary modules to students on multiple courses, addressing common problems through many disciplinary perspectives.

Principle Five Self-reflection and recognition of development The principle that personal development is fundamentally about self- reflection and ‘learning to learn’, and that this can be enabled through formal recognition and accreditation.

Outstanding practice Learning to learn effectively is built into the curriculum of every course, with formative work helping students to develop into self-evaluative practitioners of their discipline or specialism. Every student is given the support they need to become independent, self-directed learners, and students at all levels understand the value of life-long learning Records and accreditation of achievement focus on learning outcomes as well as activities, and are used as a tool to develop students’ metacognition, self- awareness and self-esteem.

Underlying themes Personal development and the acquisition of “transferable skills” should be firmly embedded within the curriculum Being “employable” requires key skills to be embedded in the curriculum, through authentic assessment, and being able to reflect on what a student has learnt Higher education should encourage students to develop into “active citizens” with social and ethical awareness, to benefit society as a whole

Employability?

Another model

The active citizen 1.The “personally responsible citizen” Voter and volunteer 2.The “participatory citizen” Citizen as an individual in groups – participate in civic society 3.The “justice-oriented citizen” Collective rights and responsibility, social justice, active challenge Premise: That higher education is transformative of the individual and has the power to improve society. Subject knowledge alone is not enough. Westheimer and Kahne, 2004

NUS Personal Development Outcomes Model Developed by our student focus group

Question s?

Discussion questions What is “employability”? How can academic and non-academic staff support students to become more employable? How can higher education promote and support the development of active citizens? How could you use the personal development benchmarking tool to make improvements in your institution?

Thank you for listening Benchmarking tool: Comprehensive Guide to Learning & Teaching: hensive-guide-to-learning-and-teaching