Personal development planning in legal education

Personal development planning (PDP) is a way of providing evidence about what learners can do and how they have developed over a period of time. It can be used simply to monitor student progress, but increasingly PDP is used to provide evidence of a process of learning and development. Portfolios and personal development plans can encourage students to become reflective and critical about their learning, requiring them to provide evidence of their learning or skill development.

The Quality Assurance Agency’s Guidelines for HE progress files defines personal development planning as:

“[A] structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development.”

The intention is that all students will have the opportunity to undertake PDP by the 2005-06 academic year – see our PDP update for the latest information on policy and practice in law.

The UKCLE personal development planning working group, set up in 2002, investigated the extent to which PDP is taking place in legal education. The working group was co-ordinated by Sue Prince (University of Exeter), who produced a position paper on PDP and law in 2002. UKCLE work in relation to PDP continues with a focus on e-portfolios – see Getting started with e-portfolios for advice and case studies on the use of e-portfolios in law schools.

For further information on using personal development planning to support reflective practice, see our guide on Developing reflective practice in legal education

Examples of PDP practice in law

• Introducing personal development planning at the University of Central England
• A personal experience of PDP and progress files [University of Glamorgan]
• PESCA: introducing personal development planning at Exeter

The examples from the UKCLE publication Developing reflective practice in legal education illustrate the use of student reflection in a range of contexts:

• Reflection in legal clinic
• Reflection on a work experience option
• Reflective diaries on the Bar Vocational Course
• Reflective journals and essays on an LLM
• Reflection using a virtual chat room
• Reflection on a personal development skills module
• Reflection in law teaching: a personal account

General guidance

• Centre for Recording Achievement – membership organisation supporting good practice and the sharing of experience in recording achievement and personal development planning. The website includes materials and case studies, as well as a FAQ for those new to PDP.
• The effectiveness of personal development planning for improving student learning – review commissioned by the LTSN Generic Centre (2003)
• Higher Education Academy website section on personal development planning – resource area includes six guides for busy academics and a series of case studies as well as a section on PDP research
• PDP-UK Network network established by the Centre for Recording Achievement and the Higher Education Academy aimed at improving support for PDP practitioners and building dialogue
• Quality Assurance Agency – Personal development planning: guidance for institutional policy and practice in higher education (2009)
• University of Leeds – Implementing the progress file at Leeds
• University of Nottingham – PADSHE project to develop personal and academic records in five universities

Last Modified: 30 June 2010