Personal development is an ongoing journey that transcends age, occupation, and life stage. How you address your constant growth, self-improvement, and evolving into the best version of oneself is key and yet often unconsidered in the overwhelm of education. While personal development is often associated with individuals, its impact extends far beyond personal boundaries. We have been working with over 200 leaders in educational institutions this year, and the impact of personal development is, we believe and see via impact data, as the tool that can address the biggest challenges students and the dedicated staff members who support them. This is the essential difference in using human lines of development in our programmes, they apply to all humans in the school community. Learning to manage our energy allows us to step back and take stock of the patterns we typically follow unconsciously. Developing our lens means bringing more lenses to the challenge sheds light on the solutions.

In this blog, we'll explore the value of a personal development curriculum and how it can be applied to both students and staff, creating a holistic learning environment that nurtures growth and success.

1. Personal Development in Education

Personal development is a multifaceted concept encompassing a wide range of skills, behaviors, and attitudes. It includes self-awareness, emotional intelligence, communication skills, self management, adaptability, and resilience, among others. The core principle is the belief in the potential for change and growth, both personally and professionally. Yet the majority of curriculums and training programs specifically focus on it.

We, like many education professionals, believe that the role of education goes beyond imparting knowledge, though it is part of it. It's about nurturing fulfillment in individuals who are then equipped to thrive in an ever-evolving world. This perspective is why personal development has become a fundamental part of many educational institutions becoming deeply ingrained into their culture, but often beyond the confines of the classroom ‘delivery’.

There are lots of different approaches bringing personal development into schools such as workshops, mentorship and coaching programmes as well as well-being initiatives. However these can make personal development seem somewhat separate from the rest of learning in the classroom, like a novelty or an add on when in fact it is integrated and entwined in all aspects of our life and only enhances our performance capacity.

Similarly for staff, development from a personal perspective can fall by the wayside to make space for knowledge based development such as symptomatic behaviour management approaches, subject knowledge or pedagogical strategies. Again this should not be a separate. There are many ways of dedicating time to personal development, even if it is spending five minutes at the start of those sessions checking in with our self, listened to by others. We have seen this act alone grow a deep trust in a five minute listening activity- particularly important when we are conditioned to transmit.

As with everything in education, this does not come without its challenges and links with a wider cultural approach. Resource limitations, workload limitations and resistance to feedback to name but a few. However, in this blog we would like to put forward a case for integrating personal development within the wider curriculum and school culture so that both staff and students can have the opportunity and reap the benefits of personal development, showing up in internal state, behaviour and performance.

2. Integrating personal development into the wider curriculum

Integrating personal development into the wider curriculum can be a highly effective way to ensure that students can sense make what education is to them. Successful integration of personal development within a whole school curriculum approach requires several key components to align including a clear strategy that is co-designed to ensure buy-in from staff, bringing their unique lens and context to the conversation. When established, this can build in collaboration, modelling and embodiment from the start this begins to nurture the wider school culture when implementing. Key questions such as “how do individuals see value in themselves?” and “how are they conscious of what is shaping them?” are key in considering how topics can be tailored to facilitate development in both students and staff. 

Consider the following steps against what you do to support integration of personal development across the wider curriculum and for learners to experience learning more holistically with a more meaningful and personal lens.

1. Identify key personal development competencies: This may be related to a certain developmental stage for example younger students vs. adolescents and may include communication skills, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, leadership, resilience, compassion. Our range of diagnostics can help to begin a deeper staff portfolio and talent map.

2. Map lines of human development onto existing subjects: By identifying where are how personal development topics and skills can be incorporated into existing subjects teachers can make explicit and meaningful links between academic knowledge, skill and how they support the growth of the individual alongside what they value.

3. Cross curricular projects: Incorporating personal development elements into these not only enable students to experience interdisciplinary working but also the many additional skills and personal characteristics that really bring a subject to life.

4. Project based learning: similarly project based learning naturally lends itself to personal development as it requires students to use and develop a whole host of skills in order to move their projects forward

5. Integrating theory into practice: key development theories such as the lines of development, positive psychology and self-determination theory can offer both teachers and students direction in their planning. By having an awareness of these students can deepen their understanding of their personal strengths, values and goals and teachers can incorporate key principles into student learning that foster personal development such as autonomy, relatedness and recognition of student strengths, motivations and interests. This can be fostered through the use of universal design for learning in planning which prompts educators to consider multiple means of engagement, expression and representation naturally fostering many of these principles to make learning accessible to all students.

6. Regular reflection and goal setting: This is key in students acknowledging and being accountable for the development journey that are on which can be achieved through explicit goal setting sessions or portfolio assessments. 

3. Making it relevant to both staff and students

Common language of these lines of development support a culture of understanding and clarity on next steps, the cornerstones of trust. This typically begins by integrating personal development practices within leadership training and then staff meetings. Only then can then be effectively used within the classroom; goal setting and review practices can be used for all stakeholders; core elements of collaboration practices, project planning and strategy implementation can all be used with students within the classroom to draw in key aspects of development such as communication, emotional intelligence and critical thinking. 

Furthermore, through explicitly prompting students and staff alike to look at themselves more deeply across subjects and provide time for them to explore how they have overcome challenges or the strengths they have drawn on in their learning to make the progress they have, shows them their value and deepens their understanding of what may have influenced their decisions, motivation and engagement. They can begin to notice patterns and if desired, make changes or take a new path and be accountable for their ongoing development journey through school and beyond.

In creating a culture where personal development is deeply integrated with the other curricula and staff development the benefits around wellbeing, engagement and attendance have been so clear to see. As we face a sense of constant flux inside and outside of education our systems and practices need to evolve for the human’s that are part of it to thrive.

Personal development is not a one-size-fits-all concept, and it should be tailored to the unique needs and goals of both students and staff. When applied effectively, we have seen that personal development can foster an environment of continuous growth, empowerment, and improvement in educational institutions and their communities. By embracing this holistic approach, schools and colleges can nurture individuals who are not only academically proficient but also equipped with life skills and resilience to thrive in the ever-evolving world. It's time to unlock the potential of both students and staff, creating a community dedicated to self-improvement and success. As our cover image suggests, personal development can be messy, colourful and take you in all sorts of directions!

Coaching and team journeys can play a crucial role in personal development. Our coaches help leaders reflect on their values, provide feedback, and guide them in their journey toward authenticity. If you are interested in exploring cutting edge diagnostics and coaching opportunities further for either yourself or your team and the benefits it can offer more widely for your organisation, we would be delighted to discuss options further. Please book a discovery call or contact us at info@glasshouselab.com.

You can also sign up to our newsletter to stay in touch.