Personal & Professional Development
Overall Summary of Placements
Over the past year, I have had work experience/placements with children and also adults with learning difficulties.
As it has now came to the end of the academic year there are many different skills which I have gained as well as learning about many different parts of health and social care which I never knew before I went on my work placement in both the nursery unit and a supportive living accommodation. I am now going to produce an end of year reflection report concentrating on my personal development, academic development and professional development within work experience/placement.
During the past year there are many things which I have learnt about myself which has impacted the work which I carry out in placement. I have learnt that it is important to have more confidence in myself and I have proved myself wrong on a number of occasions by thinking that I could not do something, however once I put my mind to it I was able to carry it out no problem. “Self-confidence is considered one of the most influential motivators and regulators of behaviour in people's everyday lives.” (Bandura, 1986). For example, when I went to my nursery unit placement, I did not think that I could cope with so many young children, however as much as I thought this once I got there and completed my first day, I was shocked to realise how easy it was compared to what I thought. Witnessing staff on how they dealt with it and what they done I was able to deal with it appropriately and professionally.
I have also seen that my attitude has changed a lot; I now have a much more positive attitude towards things rather than looking at the negative side of things. This has now promoted me to start thinking more about what to do after this course ends, for example whether to go to university or go straight into a job. While on my placement within both health and social care settings it greatly impacted on my attitude and helped me develop the correct and appropriate attitude while within this type of workplace.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my one day and also block weeks at my two placements. When I started this course I chose to carry out my placement in a nursery unit, this involved carrying out many fun and interesting activities which I thoroughly enjoyed as I got to help and join in a lot which was a great experience and very rewarding by getting to see the changes in the child as I progressed through my weeks there. I enjoyed my first placement however, when it came to half way through the year I really could not wait as I knew I got to move to supported living accommodation – something which I was very much considering as my career choice, so to me this placement was a lot more beneficial to me. At the nursery unit I was given great opportunities and learning beneficial tasks and information as I received a lot of help from the staff within the primary school and nursery unit.
Within this placement at the nursery unit, every day was different and going in in the morning I never knew what to expect. I really enjoyed with the children and they gave me a learning experience which I really enjoyed! In this placement there was a lot of different activities which helped me grow as a person and also helped me gain relevant experience which would benefit me if I ever went for a job within this type of health and social care setting. Games where laid out on the table, along with puzzles, sand pits and many other kids activities – these all helped the children developed intellectually, emotionally and also physically.
This placement was very much based upon individual learning and supporting the children in the activities they took part in. As a work placement student without any previous experience at the start this was a struggle as I had never previously dealt with this type of situation before however, I grew into this very quickly and done my utmost best to provide the nursery children with the best experience possible when they spent time with me in the classroom, this showed when I was put onto playground duty with the children, they all wanted my attention and enjoyed spending time with me.
My second placement which I went to half way throughout the year was to a supported living accommodation for adults with learning disabilities. Within the placement it was all about promoting the rights and independence of these individuals within society. Going into this placement I was extremely excited and also nervous as I had never been within this type of health and social environment before. This placement is the type of job role I would love to go into in the near future so to me, getting this experience was vital!
After the first week, staff gave me the opportunity to participate in more complicated sides of things within the accommodation, such as writing up incident reports, personal files and being sent out with the service users on one-to-one’s, there was also a lot more. I found this very beneficial as it was all part of the team leader side of things, which gave me a better understanding of how the care setting work and the typical daily tasks a team leader and also general staff would carry out. Within this placement I felt I was treated as just another member of staff, they did not make a difference between me and on duty staff.
Within this placement it also gave me the opportunity to work with many different types of learning difficulties, some of which were very severe and staff, including myself had to deal with challenging behaviour. For example, one young female here presented physical violence to a male member of staff when she ran out of gas and could not go onto ‘emergency’ to her this was his fault. I was standing within close proximity when the incident occurred and the police had to be contacted as this is against the policies of the organisation.
By carrying out placement in the health and social care sector it has enabled me to realise that working with individuals with learning difficulties and challenging behaviour is definitely what I want to do in the future as I enjoy helping the clients and getting to see them improve and make their life much easier for them as it is extremely rewarding seeing this. As it has now came to the end of placement, the staff here and the manager have requested me to apply for a part-time job here while I am still at Tech, once this is over I would be offered a full-time position, this amazed me and I am now currently on the reserve list within the company meaning I will be offered the next job role opportunity which comes available.
There are many things which I have taken from the classroom into placement which have helped me to deal with certain situations which I have been in. My significant life events unit has helped me to deal with a number of different situations within placement such as when a service user’s grandmother died. Therefore I was able to put into practice certain things which I had learnt in this year’s work, such as talking to clients to make them feel better and less distressed. As the service user suffered from quite a severe learning disability, it was difficult for them to get used to the routine of losing a parent and also parents separating.
I have also realised the importance of team work activities when working with clients with learning difficulties. By carrying out team building activities this allows all of the service user’s to get involved and feel part of something rather than feeling left out. “Good teamwork maintains effective relationships within the team and builds team morale.” (Armstrong, 1999). Therefore team work activities will help to develop and maintain friendships between the clients making the care setting an enjoyable environment for them to be in.
In conclusion this shows that as it is now the end of my first year of this course I have gained a number of different skills, I now look forward to completing next year and getting the opportunity to develop my knowledge further and also gain many more essential skills within a health and social care setting.