12. Professional Development Plans

Question 1

Professional Development Plans

Answer 1

~ provides a tool to help individuals identify steps to take to grow and track the progress toward accomplishing their goals
~ should be reviewed often and revised as necessary to meet your goals and objectives
~ to be effective, a Professional Development Plan must be written down (if it is only in your head, it is not a plan)

Question 2

The elements of a Professional Development Plan are:

Answer 2

• A goal. What is your “dream career”? Be as specific as possible. Do not write, “To work in child care.” Instead, write something like this: “To lead my own early childhood education program.”
• A list of the credentials and competencies for that career. If you want to be a director, you will write down all the credentials a director needs to have, and any other skills and abilities you will need to excel at that work.
• A list of the knowledge, skills, and abilities you already have. Carefully evaluate your current ability to achieve your goal.
• A list of the knowledge, skills, and abilities you need but do not currently have. This list becomes your objectives for achieving your goal.
• A list of the barriers to achieving your objectives and your plan for overcoming these barriers. Ask yourself: How can you overcome these barriers? What resources are available? What accommodations can be made?
• A list of objectives to achieve. These are specific statements of skills, knowledge, or abilities that you plan to gain and how you will achieve them. Your plan should include objectives that are S.M.A.R.T., which means specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to your goal, and time specific. For example, “Obtain a Birth Through Five Credential within the next 12 months.”
• A list of steps to take to achieve the objectives. These are the steps it will take to meet your objective. You should identify when each step will begin and be completed to help keep you on track.

Question 3

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Answer 3

If you want to increase your plan’s effectiveness, share it with someone who will hold you accountable for following it. You should share your professional development plan with a mentor or colleague so you can talk about your progress, challenges, and successes in meeting your goals.