Personal Pathway Planning

Personal Pathway Planning involves learners in tasks and activities that develop the skills of: self-efficacy, including personal reflection; research; analysis; actioning; evaluating; presentation; planning and organising; resume writing; portfolio collation; application writing; interview techniques; and study habits.

All learners studying this course will complete a Personal Pathway Plan.

The course is designed to be flexible, enabling providers to develop and deliver a program that meets the needs of specific groups of learners (e.g. in weekly tutor groups, through a mentoring program, as part of a suite of courses that make up a program for a particular group of learners).

The Pathway Planning process for year 8 to 10 in schools provides a foundation for learners to plan their future pathways into post-compulsory education and training.

The Personal Pathway Planning course is designed to enable learners in years 11 and 12 to apply that learning and further develop their plans. It aims to prepare adult learners, in particular young adults, for the challenges of participating in 21st Century life. The course equips learners with ‘whole of life’ knowledge, skills and understanding and focuses them on clearly defining their goals for life beyond formal education and training.

The course focuses on aspects of personal development and includes the completion of a Personal Pathway Plan.

This course is designed to support all other learning or training that a young person undertakes at their relevant place of learning.

A resource entitled Planning Personal Pathways supports the delivery of this course in Tasmanian education settings (see below).

On successful completion of this course, learners will be able to:

1. Identify and evaluate their strengths, skills and attributes
2. Reflect upon their identity
3. Make informed decisions based on a process of analysis, inquiry, action, reflection and learning evaluation (metacognition)
4. Communicate effectively
5. Plan for their future
6. Refine and apply study skills
7. Document their achievements
8. Set goals and make future projections
9. Understand the dynamics of positive relationships
10. Use thinking and learning strategies.
11. In addition, depending on their needs and future pathway, students may choose from a range of optional topics and develop these additional capabilities: Seek and apply for positions of employment or entrance into a place of further learning; Participate as active citizens; Understand workplace requirements; Understand relevant moral, legal and ethical frameworks; Understand their legal rights and responsibilities; Understand personal health and wellbeing issues; Develop financial literacy skills.

A comprehensive two-part teaching and learning resource entitled Planning Personal Pathways has been co-constructed by the Department of Education with teachers working in the post-compulsory sector. The ‘Survival Guide’ component of this resource provides learning modules for students in each of the Pathway Planning focus areas. This resource also contains a generic Pathway Plan and a Glossary of Key Concepts to assist teacher delivery. This resource was originally published in the form of two large, spiral bound workbooks. While these are out-of-print, portable document format (pdf) copies are available in the Supporting Documents below.

This course has a complexity level of 2.

At Level 2, the learner is expected to carry out tasks and activities that involve a range of knowledge and skills, including some basic theoretical and/or technical knowledge and skills. Limited judgement is required, such as making an appropriate selection from a range of given rules, guidelines or procedures. VET competencies at this level are often those characteristic of an AQF Certificate II.

This course has a size value of 5.

Personal Pathway Planning consists of four core units:

1. Reflecting on, and reviewing, a personal pathway plan
2. Identity and self-knowledge
3. Relationships and communication
4. Thinking and learning.

 

Additional topics:

• Resilience and wellbeing
• Citizenship and responsibility
• Work related learning.

These topics are all outlined in the resource for teachers and students entitled Planning Personal Pathways.

 

Learners are provided with relevant information and a structure for processing this information through a learning framework that includes:

• Analysis – understanding rules and procedures
• Inquiry – learning from others
• Taking action
• Personal reflection
• Learning evaluation (metacognition).

 

The evidence for assessment will include:

• Discussions, presentation and interviews (actual or scenario-based)
• Reflective journal
• Personal portfolio
• Personal Pathway Plan.

A teacher, mentor or facilitator will guide the individual/group through the process of setting goals and formulating plans.

Learners must:

• keep a reflective journal. This can be in a variety of formats such as: a diary; a log; a collection of worksheets associated with reflective tasks/activities from the Planning Personal Pathways resource; and provider-developed workbooks or journals. They may be paper-based or electronic.
• prepare and update a
  • personal pathway plan
  • personal portfolio
  • résumé / curriculum vitae.

Criterion-based assessment is a form of outcomes assessment that identifies the extent of learner achievement at an appropriate end-point of study. Although assessment – as part of the learning program – is continuous, much of it is formative, and is done to help learners identify what they need to do to attain the maximum benefit from their study of the course. Therefore, assessment for summative reporting to TASC will focus on what both teacher and learner understand to reflect end-point achievement.

The standard of achievement each learner attains on each criterion is recorded as a rating of ‘C’ (satisfactory standard) according to the outcomes specified in the standards section of the course document.

A ‘t’ notation must be used where a learner demonstrates any achievement against a criterion less than the standard specified for the ‘C’ rating. The ‘t’ notation is not described in course standards.

A ‘z’ notation is to be used where a learner provides no evidence of achievement at all.

Providers offering this course must participate in quality assurance processes specified by TASC to ensure provider validity and comparability of standards across all awards. To learn more, see TASC's quality assurance processes and assessment information.

Internal assessment of all criteria will be made by the provider. Assessment processes must gather evidence that clearly shows the match between individual learner performance, the standards of the course and the learner’s award. Providers will report the learner’s rating for each criterion to TASC.

The following process will be facilitated by TASC to ensure there is:

• a match between the competencies specified in the course and the skills and knowledge demonstrated by learners
• community confidence in the integrity and meaning of the qualification.

Process – TASC will undertake audits of providers, including checking of learner attendance and assessment records, examination of current learner folios, and interviews with past and present learners. Audits will be scheduled by TASC using a risk-based approach. Unsatisfactory audit results will be reported to TASC.

The assessment for Personal Pathway Planning Level 2 will be based on whether the learner can:

• 1. Undertake personal pathway planning
• 2. Identify and use personal development strategies
• 3. Demonstrate learning and thinking skills
• 4. Record and communicate ideas and information

Criterion 1: Undertake personal pathway planning

The learner:

Rating C
sets goals for future learning, pathways, and personal development
develops short, medium and long-term plans
makes career-related decisions and consider the consequences of their actions
reviews pathway plan with mentor(s).

Criterion 2: Identify and use personal development strategies

The learner:

Rating C
evaluates personal strengths, skills and capabilities
identifies areas for improvement
uses self-knowledge of strengths and interests to review and reflect on pathway choices
monitors personal goals.

Criterion 3: Demonstrate learning and thinking skills

The learner:

Rating C
undertakes a research task/inquiry into an intended pathway or career
uses appropriate study skills as directed
reflects on own learning skills, styles and approaches
uses basic problem solving and decision making strategies.

Criterion 4: Record and communicate ideas and information

The learner:

Rating C
clearly communicates ideas and information about pathways and personal development
records and documents achievements using appropriate methods
appropriately prepares for, and undertakes, interviews and presentations.

Personal Pathway Planning Level 2 (with the award of):

PASS*

*Flexible Learning teachers ONLY submitting PPP205113 final award outcomes via the TASC web-portal will select either outcome code ‘NN’ (for no award) or ‘SC’ (for pass award).

To gain an award in Personal Pathway Planning a learner must achieve C ratings in all four criteria.

The Department of Education’s Curriculum Services will develop and regularly revise the curriculum. This evaluation will be informed by the experience of the course’s implementation, delivery and assessment.

In addition, stakeholders may request Curriculum Services to review a particular aspect of an accredited course.

Requests for amendments to an accredited course will be forwarded by Curriculum Services to the Office of TASC for formal consideration.

Such requests for amendment will be considered in terms of the likely improvements to the outcomes for learners, possible consequences for delivery and assessment of the course, and alignment with Australian Curriculum materials.

A course is formally analysed prior to the expiry of its accreditation as part of the process to develop specifications to guide the development of any replacement course.

Department of Education, Tasmania.

The accreditation period for this course is from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2017.

Version 1 – Accredited version (10 August 2012). This course replaces Personal Pathway Planning (PPP205108) that expired on 31 December 2012.