reflective portfolio
Order Description
Compilation of a reflective portfolio of evidence (3500 words) demonstrating reflective learning, competency development, reflections based on work with 2 additional and different clients (totalling a minimum of 8 hours of individual coaching/mentoring practice). The portfolio will also include a reflective account of the experience of receiving 1 coaching/mentoring session and a statement on the importance of supervisory experience. (60%)
You are required to select one peer to be coached in the first six weeks of the unit, and another two peers to act as a client in weeks 7-12. You need to carry out a minimum of 12 hours of individual coaching/mentoring practice. You should aim for 8-12 hours- 4 hours per client.
The sessions should ideally be face to face.
If you assume that you will need 30 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes of time to write-up case notes. A suggested format for your reflective portfolio might be to use the following headings (Introduction, Main Body, Discussion) a suggested template can be found with supporting notes/materials on Blackboard.
The subject of the assignment is self-evaluation and your comment on the process through which you have developed your skills and personal attributes over the semester. We are asking you to reflect on what you have learnt and how you have learnt it, to identify your particular strengths and your weaknesses, to explain your plans for the future, and to begin to think about how you will express what you have to offer to an employer. You will need to think about evidence of progress and development, about your objectives and targets, the opportunities you can use to continue your learning. The process of putting together your assignment will demonstrate your ability to self-evaluate and plan for your future, but we are also looking for evidence of written communication skills and the ability to structure a piece of written work, and the contents will also indicate whether you have begun to develop the skills which are central to the module.
You will obviously need to provide evidence that you have progressed and improved your skill levels, or at least, made an attempt to do so, and we are expecting you to use the self-assessment and feedback sheets and exercises which were utilised in the workshops. You will also need to make some reference to ideas and concepts from the literature – models, frameworks and theories which you have picked up from the module’s lectures, and from any text from the reading list which you have used.
By now you will have some idea of what we are aiming for….We do not want to be prescriptive because we want to give you scope for demonstrating your own learning in your own way. However, you do need to include the three elements mentioned above and set out below:
• An analysis of your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the skill areas covered on the module. You should also think about the things in your life/the environment which have an impact on you and which may be helpful or a hindrance to your learning and development, (analogous to a SWOT analysis.) The analysis should be based on your assessment of your skills at the start of the module and/or at the start of each new skill area. Refer back to your induction form, to your thoughts when you started out at the beginning of the semester, and to the various self-assessment forms and inventories throughout the workshops.
• A reflection on what you have learnt this term, both within the module, but also in other modules, at work and at home, if it is relevant to the areas covered in the module. You will need to make reference to the different exercises which you carried out in the workshops, and to any reading you may have done, together with any concepts or frameworks which were covered in the lectures or seminars. This will be the key part of your submission, and should convince us that you have now at least progressed in the skill areas covered by the module, that you can appraise your level of skill and have an understanding of ‘good practice’ and effective performance in relation to the different skills. (Additional skills covered in the module – the ability to be self-aware and self-analytical, to record your learning and give an account of your skills, and to plan for your future development – will all be developed as a result of writing this assignment.)
• A plan for the future – for the period after this semester – which includes what skills you want to develop further, how you will go about doing so, how you will begin to present yourself to employers, and your initial thoughts on your future career and job roles. This should be based on a consideration of what you have and have not achieved over the semester, and should contain clear targets, and points for action. You might include an updated CPD/PDP with your action plan. You need to include a skills based CV.
Portfolio of evidence
Portfolio of evidence should contain commentary in relation to the following elements:
• Completed log of supervised practical work (2 clients, totalling a minimum of 8 hours)
• Competency assessment in relation to practical work (inventories at the start)
• PDP plan
• Transferable skills – reflection on how the skills developed in your role as a coach and coachee may be used in future life and career.
• Use of coaching/mentoring techniques, e.g listening and questioning, metaphors, Rapport building, NLP techniques, goal setting, Values Elicitation, etc.
• Reflective account, demonstrating reflective learning, and competency development, experience of receiving 1 coaching/mentoring session and a statement on the importance of supervisory experience.
• The reflective account should incorporate the structure of the coaching/mentoring model preferred (e.g. TGROW).
• Reference to self-evaluations – this should occur after each session and should be an assessment of how you used your coaching/mentoring skills, knowledge and techniques to support clients and manage the sessions. Try to identify both your strengths and areas for improvement here and include details of any personal action plans you have defined to develop your skills further.
• Client evaluation – it is beneficial to seek and evaluate feedback from your clients throughout the coaching/mentoring process. Include a summary of feed back from you clients at the end
• Commentary on supervisory practice
• CPD plan of action beyond the course
• 1 self/peer feedback sheet
• Skills based CV