Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of
Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
MSc Management with Streams
Professional Development and Practice
Coursework Assessment Brief – Part 2
Professional Development Portfolio
Submission mode: Turnitin online access
Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of
Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
General Assessment Guidance for this Module
 Your summative assessment for this module is made up of two coursework submissions which
accounts for 100% of the marks
 The deadline for submission is clearly stated on the coversheet of your assessment brief.
Please note late submissions will not be marked.
 You are required to submit all elements of your assessment via Turnitin online access. Only
submissions made via the specified mode will be accepted and hard copies or any other digital
form of submissions (like via email or pen drive etc.) will not be accepted.
 For coursework, the submission word limit is 5000 words. You must comply with the word count
guidelines. You may submit LESS than 5000 words but not more. Word Count guidelines can be
found on your programme home page and the coursework submission page.
 Do not put your name or contact details anywhere on your submission. You should only put
your student registration number (SRN) which will ensure your submission is recognised in the
marking process.
 A total of 100 marks are available for this module assessment, and you are required to achieve
minimum 50% to pass this module.
 You are required to use only Harvard Referencing System in your submission. Any content which
is already published by other author(s) and is not referenced will be considered as a case of
plagiarism.
You can find further information on Harvard Referencing in the online library on the VLE. You can
use the following link to access this information:
http://my.bpp.com/vle/mod/data/view.php?d=223&rid=596
 BPP University has a strict policy regarding authenticity of assessments. In proven instances of
plagiarism or collusion, severe punishment will be imposed on offenders. You are advised to
read the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and collusion in the GARs and MOPP which
are available on VLE in the Academic registry section.
 You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without
this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not marked.
Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of
Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
Assessment Brief – Part 2
MSc Management Programme – Professional Development and
Practice
Summative Assessment Overview:
This module is assessed through the five components listed below and submitted in two parts, each
of which has specific requirements.

Part 1 – Submitted during and at the completion of term 3 – 55% of module grade

 Management Report Word count: 5,000 words (excluding title, reference list and appendices) 50%  Evidence appendix 5% NB: The formative assessment – Management Report Research Proposal should be submitted and approved and included in the evidence section of report.

Part 2 – Submitted at the completion of term 5 – 45% of module grade

 Professional Development Portfolio. Word count 5,000 (45%) NB: Both documents should be submitted as one and not separately as they relate to each other.

Part 1 of your assessment is submitted during and at the completion of term 3.
Part 2 is submitted at the completion of term 5. Each has a separate assignment brief available on
the VLE.
Collectively these are known as your portfolio which is a collection of work that shows how you have
achieved the intended learning outcomes of the module. Part 2 is explained below.
Professional Development Portfolio
Word count: 5000 words (excluding title, bibliography, reference and appendices)
Marked out of 100 (45% weighting of final module grade)
Over the last 18 months, your academic programme, part-time employment or a placement, and other
professional development opportunities have been key to helping you expand your knowledge, skills
and behaviours and your professional development over this time, needs to be evidenced.
Critical learning events or incidents can be described as “learning situations which learners have
experienced as effective, exceptional, or personally meaningful, (they) may lead to educationally
significant learning and personal growth.” Soini H. (2012) Please write a detailed account of the critical
learning events and experiences you have navigated through and learned from.
If you have had part-time employment, you should give an overview of your experience at BPP and
your critical learning events can be a mixture of part-time employment experience or a placement and
Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of
Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
academic experience. If you did not undertake part-time work, your assessment should be based on
your 18 months of your academic experience and your critical learning events should come from this.
Using your learning journal as the primary resource to draw from, you should select a minimum of 3
and maximum of 6 learning critical learning events and explain how these have developed you
professionally and made you more employable –increased your employability.
You should utilise one of the following reflective models to structure your writing:
Kolb’s Reflective Cycle (1984)
Gibb’s Reflective Cycle (1998)
To exemplify your employability, you should source a job description that you would like to apply for
as a BPP graduate and map your skills using your BPP Career Ready Skills Analysis form to those
required from the role. Within each of these experiences you are expected to articulate specific
knowledge, skills and behaviours that you have brought together effectively to enhance your
performance as a professional practitioner. You should also include and reference relevant theories
that you have been exposed to during your time at BPP.
Where you identify areas for development, you should ensure that these appear as goals in your IPDP
and should be discussed in the content of your report to clearly link your development with your intent
to change. Your report should clearly detail what you would do differently because of your new-found
understanding and learning.
The evidence for your professional development should be attached to your Professional
Development Report as appendices. Evidence should consist of your learning journal, your individual
professional development plan, your chosen graduate job description, a personal SWOT analysis, your
updated CV, details of networking events and other training you might have been involved with and
any other additional evidence that reflects your increased employability.
Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of
Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
Part 2 – Assessment Marking Scheme

Section	Mark	Approach
Introduction and Background	5%	Clearly state why you are writing this report. In this section you should detail your course, what you have enjoyed and found challenging and what you now consider to be your career direction. If you had part-time employment, you can also write about where you worked, your job title and your main responsibilities.
Selection and Analysis of “Critical Learning Events” within the Professional Development Report	40%	Your learning journal, kept over your 18-month experience, will provide more than enough critical learning events and details for you to draw from. The selection of which “Critical learning events” will be based around the knowledge, skills, and behaviours (KSBs) that have improved the most during your work placement or academic experience. They should also be mapped to your chosen graduate job description and identify areas of strength and weakness – areas for development. You may choose to organise your report around skills and skill sets rather than chronologically. You must use one of the two reflective cycle models defined in the assessment brief (Gibbs or Kolb) and you should seek to make some short reference to your knowledge or understanding of relevant theory in support of your work. This could be related to general employability, skill development, reflective practice or learning through experience. The most important aspect here is to ensure you have a good analytical structure that captures what you learned or felt about a learning event (or series of events), what went well or not so well and, ultimately, what conclusions do you make in relation to what you can do in the future. ————————————————————————————- NOTE: One common error in this section is that students write too descriptively about what happened with little analysis of what they learned and how they will apply it to their future.
Linked to your Learning Journal and your graduate job description	10%	How do the events you’ve chosen as evidence for your development link to your learning journal and your chosen graduate job description? Have you clearly identified the event and related developments in your analysis?
Conclusions and Personal Assessments	10%	This is the forward application of what you’ve told us about how you’ve developed. How will you use these valuable pieces of knowledge or skills and behaviours (KSBs)

Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of
Learning. Springer, Boston, MA

in the future? You will need to evidence your understanding of what it takes to remain employable in your chosen career or industry. It is likely that this will be evident in the choice of skills you have selected to reflect upon in your learning events or the future development intentions you plan to take forward. This will be most useful to reinforce your reflections or to justify your future development intentions that you have noted as goals in your professional development plan. You may look to internal or external peers to benchmark your own development and should refer to your chosen graduate job description in terms of what future development might be needed, whether this be in your skill-set, acquired knowledge or values and behaviours. ————————————————————————————— NOTE: A good support document for this section would be your personal SWOT placed in the appendices with previous and current self-assessments.
Supporting Evidence	30%	Have you attached as appendices your learning journal, your individual professional development plan, your updated CV, BPP Career Ready Skills Analysis form, details of networking events and other training you might have been involved with and any other additional evidence that reflects your increased employability and work towards professional development goals? NOTE: Remember; the definition of appendices are the sections at the end of a paper that gives additional information and context to the topics explored in the contents of your report. They form part of the overall appendix.
Report Structure and Presentation	5%	Your professional development portfolio must reflect a professional standard of writing ability utilising appropriate Harvard Referencing. This includes the report cover page, citations, page numbers, use of language, presentation, organisation and structure, line spacing, use of section headings, spelling, punctuation and grammar, evidence of proof reading, properly labelled graphics, adherence to word limits, footnotes, and captions. Note: Please see the document provided to all students on the VLE: Formatting Academic Papers in Standard Harvard Format
Total	100

Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
Appendix A – General Grading Criteria – Level 7

Criteria	Pass Grades	Fail Grades
High Distinction 85-100%	Distinction 70-84%	Merit 60-69%	Pass 50-59%	Fail 30-49%	Low Fail 0-29%
The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:
Knowledge & Understanding (a) Systematic Understanding (b) Emerging Thought	(a) Strong evidence of a comprehensive and systematic understanding of an extensive range of appropriate issues, concepts, theories and research	(a) Clear evidence of a comprehensive and systematic understanding of a considerable variety of issues, concepts, theories and research	(a) Clear evidence of a comprehensive and systematic understanding of all major – and some minor – issues, concepts, theories and research	(a) Evidence of a systematic understanding, which may contain some gaps, of all major – and some minor – issues, concepts, theories and research	(a) Evidence of an understanding of an appropriate range of issues, concepts, theories and research but has significant gaps or misunderstandings.	(a) Evidence of a limited understanding of issues, concepts, theories and research either major and/or minor.
(b) Sustained excellence in the application of thoughts and practices at the forefront of the discipline	(b) Precise and well-judged application of thoughts and practices at the forefront of the discipline	(b) Some clear evidence of the application of thoughts and practices at the forefront of the discipline	(b) Clear evidence of an understanding of thoughts and practices at the forefront of the discipline.	(b) Unclear or imprecise understanding of thoughts and practices at the forefront of the discipline.	(b) Significant gaps in the understanding of the debates at the forefront of the discipline.
Argument (a) Analysis, Synthesis & Evaluation (b) Numerical Analysis (c) Argumentation (d) Independent Research	(a) Consistently precise, accurate and reasoned analysis, synthesis and/or evaluation; addressing issues with insight or originality	(a) Consistently precise, accurate and reasoned analysis, synthesis and/or evaluation addressing all issues, some with creativity	(a) Precision, accuracy and clear reasoning throughout the analysis, synthesis and/or evaluation addressing all issues appropriately	(a) Broad levels of precision, accuracy and reasoning in analysis, synthesis and/or evaluation, and addresses all key issues	(a) Errors which affect the consistency of the analysis, synthesis or evaluation and/or key gaps in the issues addressed	(a) A lack of precision, accuracy or reasoning in analysis, synthesis or evaluation with significant gaps in the issues addressed
(b) Numeric analysis that is complete and free from errors with application of methods that may be insightful or original	(b) Numeric analysis that is complete and mostly free from errors with fluent and appropriate application of methods.	(b) Numeric analysis that is complete and mostly free from errors with relevant and effective application of methods.	(b) Numeric analysis that is mostly complete and free from significant or critical errors with appropriate application of methods.	(b) Numeric analysis that is mostly complete but contains errors with significant effect, or methods that are applied inappropriately	(b) Numeric analysis that is incomplete or contains errors which have critical effect, or methods that are applied inappropriately
(c) Extremely strong and consistent argument making a convincing whole with evidence of originality. Impressive dexterity in the use of information gathered to support the argument.	(c) Extremely strong and consistent argument that convincingly addresses issues including uncertainties and conflicts. Excellent use of information gathered which to support and further the argument	(c) Evidence of an argument that is generally convincing with a good internal consistency and addresses most issues. Very good use of information gathered to support the argument.	(c) Evidence of an overall convincing argument but may have weaknesses, gaps or inconsistencies. Clear use of information gathered but may have some weaknesses in the integration into the argument.	(c) Evidence of a consistent argument but may have weaknesses, significant gaps or be unconvincing. Clear use of information gathered but may not be sufficient to sustain the argument.	(c) Lack of consistency or structure in the argument. Serious weaknesses in the integration of evidence and/or no awareness of the limitations or weaknesses of the research.

Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA

Criteria

Pass Grades

Fail Grades

High Distinction 85-100%

Distinction 70-84%

Merit 60-69%

Pass 50-59%

Fail 30-49%

Low Fail 0-29%

The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:	The work displays:
Argument (continued) (d) Independent Research	(d) Evidence of an innovative or original use of extensive personal research which has been thoroughly critically evaluated both conceptually and methodologically	(d) Substantial research and evidence of an innovative use of a wide range of personal research with clear and consistent critical evaluation both conceptually and methodologically	(d) Clear evidence of considerable personal research and the use of a diverse range of appropriate sources but may contain problems with consistency in the conceptual and methodological critical evaluation	(d) Appropriate use of a wide range of personal research which is critically evaluated for key conceptual and methodological issues although this may not be consistent throughout	(d) Evidence of a range of personal research but evidence of methodological or conceptual evaluation may be limited, inconsistent or inappropriate	(d) Over reliance on very restricted range of personal or secondary research much of which may not be evaluated and may not be directly related to the question or area
Presentation (a) Structure (b) Referencing (c) Use of Language	(a) Excellent structure and presentation	(a) Excellent structure and presentation	(a) Good structure and presentation	(a) Adequate structure and presentation	(a) Adequate structure and presentation	(a) Poor structure and presentation
(b) Precise, full and appropriate references and notes.	(b) Precise, full and appropriate references and notes.	(b) Full and appropriate references and notes with minor or insignificant errors	(b) Good references and notes with minor or insignificant errors or omissions	(b) Competent references and notes but may contain inconsistencies, errors or omissions	(b) Poor references and notes with multiple inconsistencies, errors or omissions
(c) Subtle use of language expressing highly nuanced thought with clarity and precision to a level appropriate for submission for publication.	(c) Precise use of language expressing complex thought with clarity, accuracy and precision which furthers and enhances the argument	(c) Clear and precise use of language allowing a complex argument to be easily understood and followed	(c) Generally clear use of language sufficient for arguments to be readily understood and followed	(c) Generally understandable use of language but significant errors in expression affecting overall clarity	(c) Serious errors in the use of language which makes meaning unclear or imprecise

Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA
Appendix C – BPP Professional Development Plan Template

KSB Development Goal	Milestones What are the specific actions that you need to carry out to achieve your goal?	Resources E.g. books, journals, web links, training, events.	Deadline	Success Factor(s)	Evidence
Example short term goal: Teamworking I’ve identified in my Skills Analysis Form that my teamworking skills are poor. I would like to feel more confident in working in a team. My team project is coming up and this would be a good time to test my skills.	Example: To work effectively in a team, I should:  Analyse my team working role using Belbin’s Team Roles (Belbin, 1981)  Find out how my team members fit in terms of roles and try to allocate roles that best fit them.  Understand the task at hand and ensure that we (team members) attend update sessions regularly to ensure we are on track.	Example: https://www.belbi n.com/about/belbi n-team-roles/ Module Handbook and VLE.	Example: January 2020	Example: My team will achieve a result above the 50% pass mark for the module.	Example: Completed Team Roles exercise. Completed transcript with marks.
1.

Soini H. (2012) Critical Learning Incidents. In: Seel N.M. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA

2.

3.