1 understand principles of professional development
1.1
The importance of continually improving knowledge and practice is that you can ensure that you are aware of any new relevant legislation and you can also improve the service you provide. It also gives you the opportunity to reflect on what you are good at as well as what you are not so good at, so that you can see what areas you can improve in.
Professional development is an opportunity to reflect, share common goals, support each other as well as learn from others knowledge, expertise and experience. Regular supervision and training of staff can lead to reduced sickness and absence; it can improve the service that they provide and allow them to reflect on there own strengths and weaknesses. It will eventually lead to an increase in accountability and motivation in the work place and improve recruitment and retention of current members of staff. The members of staff will improve in the service they provide and be more confident in doing so.
Professional development also assists in the everyday pressures and challenges that are faced in our line of work, and enables us to deliver appropriate and relevant care to our service users, which as a company we continually strive to achieve.
1.2
Potential barriers to professional development may be a lack of facility with language or literacy and members of staff may be quite embarrassed that others may learn of this. Dyslexia and learning difficulties may make professional development a longer more intense learning path; this should be taken in to consideration with each candidate and learning teaching and learning styles adapted to accommodate this.
Another barrier could be that staff may think that they already hold the relevant knowledge they require to fulfill their job roles as they many have been in the profession for many years.
Longevity and age can always be a major barrier to someone’s professional