Professional Development and Academic Writing Skills Assignment Brief
| Qualification | OTHM Level 5 Diploma in Health and Social Care Management (610/1537/4)
OTHM Level 5 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care Management (610/0333/5) |
| Unit Reference Number | K/650/1144 |
| Unit Title | Professional Development and Academic Writing Skills |
| Unit Level | 4 |
| Number of Credits | 20 |
| Total Qualification Time (TQT) | 200 hours |
| Guided Learning Hours (GLH) | 100 hours |
| Mandatory / Optional | Mandatory |
| Sector Subject Area (SSA) | 1.3 Health and social care |
| Unit Grading Type | Pass / Fail |
Unit Aims
The aim of the unit is to deepen learners understanding of professional development and to help them explore their own development as a manager in health and social care. The unit also introduces learners to the skills necessary for academic writing, when engaging in continuous professional development.
Learning Outcomes, Assessment Criteria and Indicative Content
| Learning Outcome – The learner will: | Assessment Criterion – The learner can: | Indicative content |
| 1. Understand the principles of professional development. | 1.1 Explain what is meant by professional development.
1.2 Explain ways of overcoming barriers to professional development. 1.3 Determine the different sources available for professional development. 1.4 Analyse factors to consider when selecting opportunities and activities for keeping knowledge and practice up to date. |
● Definition of professional development, continuous process. ● Professional Codes and Standards of conduct: The Health and Care Professions Council; Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics, Nursing and Midwifery Council; The Code; Professional Standards of Practice and behaviour for nurses and midwives. ● National Occupational Standards / Up-dates for Manual Handling etc. ● Potential barriers: own attitudes, access to training, time, lack of resources, costs, different learning styles. |
| 2. Be able to develop goals and targets for their own professional development. | 2.1 Explain how to identify personal and professional development objectives. 2.2 Analyse the importance of learning styles and their application to professional development. 2.3 Apply skills audit to assess personal and professional development needs. |
● Formal and informal sources of support for development: organised learning activities, experience in the work setting. Supervision, appraisal, mentoring, coaching, presentations and sharing good practice. ● Factors when considering professional development: allocation of budget, time, career goals, time off. ● Supporting others: open up discussion, observation of colleagues, share good practice. ● Demonstrate they are working to standards; codes of conduct; regulations, National Occupational Standards. Health and Care Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, review own role, SMART Targets. ● Personal Analysis: SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities) ● Setting Goals: set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (SMART) objectives: ○ Specific: Clear, unambiguous, straightforward, understandable ○ Measurable: Related to quantified or qualitative performance measures ○ Achievable: With known resources ○ Realistic: Linked to industry needs/standards ○ Time-bound: Building-in completion date and review dates ● Personal Objectives: this stage involves setting out your personal objectives. ● Learning style: use of learning inventory, learning styles questionnaire. |
| 3. Be able to prepare a professional development plan. | 3.1 Produce a professional development plan. 3.2 Apply techniques to review progress toward personal and professional objectives. |
● Prioritise learning development, short and long term goals, objectives, dates for achievement, how you will achieve objectives, support required, evidence of outcomes. ● Evidence that objectives have been met. |
| 4. Be able to use models of reflective practice to evaluate own development. | 4.1 Compare models of reflective practice. 4.2 Apply reflective practice techniques to improve performance. 4.3 Evaluate the effectiveness of own reflective practice. |
● Models: e.g. Kolb, Johns, Gibbs, Jasper (2006), Schon (1983), reflection of behaviours and performance, feedback from others. ● Improve performance through reflection on and reflection of practice; goal setting; improvement through use of evidence base practice; best practice ● Is practice meeting the needs of individuals accessing services, and of the service; fitness for purpose; safe and current practice. |
| 5. Be able to apply appropriate academic conventions in written communication. | 5.1 Explain the principles of academic writing. 5.2 Produce written work according to academic conventions. 5.3 Apply techniques to review on own academic writing skills. |
● Clarity; presentation skills; consideration of the intended audience; application of theories and concepts; objectivity; logical structure and flow; evidence based / references, accessibility; use of acronyms; use of first person; headings/subheadings; avoidance of slang or colloquial language; punctuation; grammar; avoiding contractions. ● Harvard referencing conventions; citations; quotes; annotations; bibliography; reference lists; web references; accuracy. ● Developing academic skills; understanding of plagiarism; paraphrasing and summarising; reflective learning; critical analysis. |
Assignment Tasks
Task 1
Unit Learning Outcomes
LO 2 Be able to develop goals and targets for their own professional development.
LO 3 Be able to prepare a professional development plan.
Task Assessment Criteria to be covered
2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 2.4; 3.1; 3.2
Assignment Brief and Guidance
You are required to prepare and review a professional development plan.
In so doing you should:
- Evaluate own knowledge against standards and benchmarks.
- Create SMART goals and targets for own professional development.
- Determine appropriate goals and targets to meet expected standards.
- Assess learning opportunities to meet objectives and reflect personal learning style.
- Apply techniques to review progress toward personal and professional objectives
You can refer to the NHS website – or other alternative sources for guidance on developing and producing a personal development plan.
Delivery and Submission
The submission is in the form of a personal development plan written in Word format.
The recommended word limit is 500 words excluding diagrams, references, and appendices.
Task 2
Unit Learning Outcomes
LO 1 Understand the principles of professional development.
LO 4 Be able to use models of reflective practice to evaluate own development.
Task Assessment Criteria to be covered
1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4; 4.1; 4.2; 4.3
Assignment Brief and Guidance
Undertake a critical reflection of own practice within a health and social care environment.
In your reflective account you should:
- Explain what is meant by professional development.
- Explain ways of overcoming barriers to professional development.
- Determine the different sources available for professional development.
- Analyse factors to consider when selecting opportunities and activities for keeping knowledge and practice up to date.
- Compare models of reflective practice
- Describe how you would apply reflective practice techniques to improve own performance.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of own reflective practice
Delivery and Submission
The submission is in the form of an essay written in Word format.
The recommended word limit is 2000 words excluding diagrams, references, and appendices.
Referencing
You are expected to use relevant academic and reliable sources, and clearly reference these in your work. References should be added to the text and placed at the end in a references list, using Harvard Referencing style.
You should complete a bibliography to support all evidence.
Task 3
Unit Learning Outcome
LO 5 Be able to apply appropriate academic conventions in written communication.
Task Assessment Criteria to be covered
5.1; 5.2; 5.3
Assignment Brief and Guidance
Part A: Explain the principles of academic writing.
Part B: Submit a piece of your own writing. The writing may have been produced as evidence for another unit, but must be in an appropriate format and style, following conventions of academic writing.
Part C: Apply techniques to review on own academic writing skills.
Delivery and Submission
The submission is in the form of an essay written in Word format.
The recommended word limit is 500 words excluding diagrams, references, and appendices.
Referencing
You are expected to use relevant academic and reliable sources, and clearly reference these in your work. References should be added to the text and placed at the end in a references list, using Harvard Referencing style.
You should complete a bibliography to support all evidence.
Finding Unit K/650/1144 assignment writing requirements confusing?
The post Professional Development and Academic Writing Skills (K/650/1144) Assignment Brief 2026 appeared first on Students Assignment Help UK.