CTP Notes 4th October

What did we talk about last week? Centralised and de-centralised management and the importance of Continued Professional Development.

Keeping knowledge and skills up-to-date and focuses on what you learn.

CIPD Benefits ABC A Advancement and promotion
B Balance and quality of life
C Capability enhancement

CPD is more than training.

Group 1 (Liz) fed back on benefits to the individual of continual development
Group 2 (us) fed back on benefits to the manager of continual development
Group 3 (Wendy) fed back on the benefits to the organisation of continual development
Group 4 (Julie and Jane) fed back on what is a Learning Experience? – EVERYTHING

Handout called Part 2 Moving Forward handed out. We all filled out Q2 and read them to the group.

Handout called Development Plan (A) handed out, though we will be emailed it as well. Jane gave me feedback on mine. Needs to be more specific. Then Jane handed out the Development Record (B) aka learning log and I pointed out that my boss had found this the most difficult as he hadn’t actually done it throughout. The advice is to make one entry per week.

Natalie, Charlotte and CB had to examine the difference between Training and Education.
1. Education is a way to get to where you want to go – qualifications – and training is what happens to you once you are in employment.
2. Training maintains knowledge.
3. Education is theoretical, Training is vocational.
4. Training is competency-based.
5. Education is from scratch, Training builds on this information.
6. Education needs a teacher, training can be DIY

The punchline, of course, is that the boundaries are blurred and there is training in education and vice versa. Modern systems mean that there is lots of overlap.

Do something (Activist)
Think about it (Reflector)
Test it out
(Pragmatist)
Learning Circle



Make sense of it (Theorist)


If any stage of the Learning Circle is not successfully completed there may be problems:

Do something – if no tasks are undertaken, no conclusions can be drawn!
Think about it – if we always do as we always do without considering it if is the best way, it may not be the best way
Make sense of it – if we do not understand it will the delegates?
Test it out – if these grand plans are not put into practise how will we ever know they work? There’s also the chance of forgetting.

CIPD definition of Learning
· Groups, mentally or physically the subject
· Translates it into words, actions that make sense to him or her
· Locates it alongside all the other things he or she knows or does
· Does something with the newfound knowledge to make it their own.


4 different styles of learner. Jane handed out Questionnaire

Activist (do something)
Reflector
(think about it)
Theorist
(Make sense of it)
Pragmatist
(Test it out)
Sonia
Charlotte
Natalie (=)
Jane H
Liz
Dimple
Julie
Wendy
Chris

Jane L
Natalie (=)

What does this information mean to a trainer?
CB - tailormake courses with this in mind.
JP – in practice we can’t tailormake courses for our delegates, can we?

Then it was decided that actually we can use this information to help decide the method of delivery bearing in mind the learning style of delegates – in other words, tailormake courses for our delegates.

Why is it beneficial to be aware of our own Learning style?
We must not judge everyone on our own style. Jane H made the point that as she is a very Activist learner herself she tended to design very activist learner friendly style exercises. This questionnaire could be used at the start of a management course if it were going on for several weeks.

Most of the session delegates spent discussing 1-2-1 with JP the previous week’s SWOT analysis. Mine needed to be more specific and less fanciful.

Next week every delegate has to do 10 minutes on anything they choose. Powerpoint is available to those who can bring it in on a flash stick.