Continous personal development in my place of work Essay

Continous personal development in my place of work - Essay Example However, regardless of the personality the prison staff has, they have been subjected, and made to adapt, to changing circumstances in the past few years. From the working role of prison staff as depicted by Woolf to the new role of bringing about a balance and accomplishment of a constructive, aberrant behaviour work with prisoners, prison staff members are facing a dire need for continued professional development (Liebling, Price & Schefer 2011). The changing times have shifted the focus of prison roles from delivery of justice and fairness to better management of the attitude of the prisoners. Better and improved theoretical and practical models have been developed for achieving this managerial role. Power culture, role culture and person culture have all seen significant changes in the past years (Harper 1997). Moreover the advent of new technology and changes in the architectural design of the prisons, coupled with innovations in the operating framework of organizations and grea ter external monitoring of the position and utility of prisons, have widened the scope of the responsibilities prison staff are required to meet (O'Toole & Eyland 2005). This has implications for prison staff. According to Boyatzis, Cowen and Kolb (1995), educators are not in touch with learning anymore. They give out information that they have and which helps to achieve the expected results. Educators today have become intertwined in the business of giving out information rather than being proactive in learning. The changing times have served to highlight this deficiency. This is evidenced by the fact that people working at the prison are now demanding better training programs and greater opportunities to further their skills. This serves to highlight the need for any individual working at the prison to indulge in a continuous process of professional development in order to satisfy the demands of the modern era. Before scrutinizing the professional development I, being an employee at the prison, can undergo, I will revisit the models of professional development. These models will be reviewed and linked to how they apply to my place of work i.e. the prison. Generally speaking, professional development entails to the concept of improving one’s personal self as well as bringing about advancement in one’s career. It encompasses a range of initiatives undertaken by the individual such as diplomas, workshops and conferences, training and other informal means of learning offered at the place of work. One of the essentials of professional development is the evaluation of one’s progress and how aligned the process is to the goals. The programs undertaken can be formal or informal, and group-led or individual. Keeping the need for professional development into consideration, Sparks and Loucks-Horsley (1989) have cited five models for staff development. Often people follow a combination of these models to advance professionally. Before evaluating on eself through these models, one needs to answer the question that what is needed to become a better educator. Analyzing all professional development models keeping this question in context, I believe I can chart out a comprehensive continued professional development process. The first model of professional development pertains to individually guided development. It is a natural phenomenon for a person to be curious. Curiosity is a great teacher and