Learning truly is a lifelong process; one that is not confined to childhood or the classroom but takes place throughout life and in a range of situations. As your professional interests and the demands of the field change, it is important to expand your skills and knowledge. That is why the Registry created a Professional Development Plan called, “Cultivating Your Growth as a Professional: Creating a Professional Development Plan to Guide Your Career in Early Care and Education” (available within the Online Portal). This plan, coupled with Nevada’s Core Knowledge Areas and Core Competencies for Early Childhood Professionals, can help you prepare and carry out a personalized Professional Development Plan (PDP) for reaching your goals.
What is a Professional Development Plan?
A PDP is a guide designed to help you reflect upon your own practice as an Early Childhood professional. Creating a PDP helps increase your knowledge, skills and expertise for working with children and their families over time by helping you determine your areas of interest and strength, as well as areas where further growth and development may be needed. Your PDP will help you plan for future professional development and help you assess your own progress and professional growth.
What will my PDP look like?
Your investment of time and money in professional development will be most effective when you know what you want and need to learn. Because each person comes to early childhood environments with a unique combination of professional skills and expertise, experience and education, no single plan will work for everyone, nor will any two plans look the same. For this reason, it is important that your PDP be created on your own based on your own interests and needs.
Getting started on your Professional Development Plan
You may work in a program that has already implemented some form of goal-setting or professional planning, or this may be your first attempt to outline your professional goals. Either way, there are a number of different formats available to help you assess, prioritize, clarify and reflect upon your PDP. This particular plan is based on Nevada’s Core Competencies and will help you get started with, or expand upon, what you may already be doing.
Start planning your professional development today!
Log into your Online Portal to get started.