Personal Development Planning: Are We Achieving Our Goal?

By Janet Strivens, University of Liverpool

As most people know, the origin of the current policy on Personal Development Planning (PDP) was Recommendation 20 of the Dearing Report (NCIHE 1997) which suggested that Progress Files (a term that had recently been introduced in the school sector to replace the National Record of Achievement) should be developed in Higher Education, consisting of two elements:

• A Transcript recording student achievement;
• And a means by which students can monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development.

The QAA instigated a national consultation into this second element, drawing largely on networks already established by the Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA). CRA is an educational charity originally established – as a project – in 1991 whose purpose is ‘to promote awareness and understanding of recording achievement processes as an important element in improving learning and progression throughout the world of education, training and employment’. It was thus a natural partner in the consultation process...