Personal development and growth, is it possible to foster both in HE?

Author(s):

Maja Jankowska(presenting / submitting)Alfredo Gaitan

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 01 D, Academic Work and Professional Development

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-10

13:15-14:45

Room:

STD-402

Chair:

Britten Ekstrand

Contribution

Those who teach in Higher Education in the UK (and many other European countries) are inevitably faced with the growing internationalisation and diverse landscape of the sector as well as an obligation to provide students with opportunities for personal, professional and academic development. Whilst a great deal has been written about both internationalisation and Personal Development Planning (PDP) – a structured and supported process, which should enable individual students to reflect upon their learning and plan for their future (QAA, 2000) - relatively little is known about international students’ perceptions and experiences of personal development and PDP.

The research reported on in this paper raises key questions about uncritical application of concepts such as PDP as well as other pedagogic practices in increasingly diverse classrooms that are underpinned by the Western philosophical and scholarly tradition. It challenges a narrow perspective of personal development as centred on agency, individuality, self-promotion, independence and personal achievement and gain by inviting a consideration of personal development and learning as socially constructed processes with a wider range of purposes than traditionally articulated by PDP.

This paper will focus specifically on one element of a bigger, doctoral research conducted by the first of the authors, namely the exploration of the differences between students’ personal development and growth in HE, as well as the implications of these approaches for personal development planning (PDP), teaching and student support. Therefore this paper addresses one of the research questions: ‘What are students’ perceptions and understandings of PD & PDP?’, revealing that while many HEIs may accentuate personal development (in the UK specifically in the form of PDP), some students may be more concerned with personal growth. The discussion around this subject will lead to posing questions about the purpose of higher education and the complexities of fostering students’ development and growth within different subject disciplines, contexts and in the light of students’ and staff’s backgrounds, which mediate the intercultural learning environment of many Higher Education Institutions across Europe.

Method

The research reported on in this paper is located in the area of the internationalisation of HE. The author was keen to explore what concepts of PD and PDP could be found among the diverse student population at one British university. Having decided at the outset that this project would be a qualitative, in-depth investigation of the phenomenon the researcher decided to conduct a small scale qualitative, phenomenological study (with a focus on nationalities with the largest representation among the student population at the University of Bedfordshire, where the study was conducted). The methodological framing consisted of a mixed method approach to data collection and included semi-structured interviews and concept maps. A concept mapping technique was developed by Novak (1998) and Novak and Cañas (2006) as a tool that has a potential to capture learners’ knowledge of a particular topic. The researcher was keen to capture culturally diverse students’ representations of personal development to detect any possible conceptual differences as well as assess the possibility of using concept mapping in a ‘softer’, more intangible area of personal development. The data obtained was analysed in several ways (adding analytical layers): content analysis (CMs), grounded theory and narrative analysis (interviews).

Expected Outcomes

This research suggests: - that although PDP is often presented in the broader context of employability, skills acquisition and global market competitiveness with an assumption that all students, regardless of their background and prior experiences, are orientated towards education and driven mainly by employability needs (Clegg, 2010), students may have much broader and complex aims of personal development (self-exploration, self-discovery and finding their own place in the world, which may lead to reflecting on personal growth and the contemplation of not conforming to the ‘main stream’ ways of living); - the mismatch of some students’ expectations of what they would like to gain from PD and PDP/CPD and what is offered in PDP modules/activities as individual values and beliefs about the nature and purpose of PD and PDP may clash with, not only broader social, but also specific institutional agendas; -- a suggestion that conceptualisation of PDP as a cycle of planning, doing, recording, reflecting and reviewing proves problematical for many students; - a perceived need to go beyond more instrumental goals which are often the focus of PDP and develop intangible or ‘softer skills’ - a perceived need to include social aspects of development, often neglected in curricula.

References

Andrews, M., Squire, C. & Tamboukou, M. (2008) Doing narrative research. London: Sage. Bamberg, M. (2010) 'Who am I? Narration and its contribution to self and identity XXX-XXX', Theory & Psychology, 21 (1), pp.1-22. Barnett, R. (2007) A will to learn: Being a student in an age of uncertainty. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill/Open University. Barnett, R. (2000) Realizing the university in an age of supercomplexity. Buckingham: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press. Baxter Magolda, M.B. (2007) 'Self-authorship: The foundation for twenty-first-century education', New Directions for Teaching & Learning, (109), pp.69-83. Clegg, S. & Bufton, S. (2008) 'Student support through personal development planning: Retrospection and time', Research Papers in Education, 23 (4), pp.435-450. Clegg, S. (2010) 'Time future - the dominant discourse of higher education', Time & Society, 19 (3), pp.345-364. Dearing, R. (1997) Higher Education in the learning society: Report of the National Committee of Inquiry in Higher Education. London: Stationery Office. Finlay, L. (2009) 'Debating phenomenological research methods', Phenomenology and Practice, 3 (1), pp.6-25. Gough, D., Kiwan, D., Sutcliffe, S., Simpson, D. & Houghton, N. (2003) A systematic map and synthesis review of the effectiveness of personal development planning for improving student learning. Irving, J.A. & Williams, D.I. (2001) 'The path and price of personal development', European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counselling and Health, 4 (2), pp.225-235. Irving, J.A. & Williams, D.I. (1999) 'Personal growth and personal development: Concepts clarified', British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 27 (4), pp.517-526. Jankowska, M. (2010a) 'Enabling student development: With socially mediated concept mapping technique', Journal for Learning Development in Higher Education, Special Edition: Researching PDP Practice, available at http://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/ojs/index.php?journal=jldhe&page=article&op=view&path[]=112 Mauthner, N.S. & Doucet, A. (2003) 'Reflexive accounts and accounts of reflexivity in qualitative data analysis', Sociology, 37 (3), pp.413-431.

Author Information

Maja Jankowska (presenting / submitting)

University of Bedfordshire

Psychology

Luton

Alfredo Gaitan