Personal development plans and equal opportunities

This paper explores the impact of gender and ability on a personal development planning (PDF) project, and discusses the hypothesis that PDPs enhance equal opportunities for students in Years 11 and 12. It uses findings from a questionnaire survey to illustrate issues of particular interest. Information about the motivation, personal understanding, communication skills and responsibility of students with regard to their own learning is presented, and differences between the ability and gender groups are discussed. Findings may be of interest to tutors involved in PDP, action planning and similar initiatives driven by the one-to-one dialogue.