1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
If you have already filed an integrated workplace reflection in your Digital Portfolio, leave it closed today. This lesson does a different job. You are reflecting by rating named skills and competencies against places where somebody who was not marking you actually watched you work: your placement and your mock interview (or the equivalent evidence sources named below if either is still missing).
The point is not another essay. It is two evidenced development goals, saved in one portfolio document, ready to carry into ALT 4: a response plan built on workplace feedback, using the two areas you name today. You cannot write that plan until you know which two things you are responding to.
Before you move on, open your placement notes and mock-interview feedback now. If either is missing, use the fallback in the main activity step and label your source clearly.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
Three terms you will use while you rate and choose today:
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Progression link | The connection between what you showed at work or in interview and what you will keep building next. Your Placement Progression Link document makes that connection visible for ALT 4. | Linking a shaky phone call on placement to a goal about asking clearer questions under pressure |
| Development goal | A specific skill you will work on because evidence, not mood, picked it. You will leave with exactly two, each backed by a real occasion. | Practise recovering after a stumble in interview answers before the next real interview |
| Competency rating | A score that only counts when a concrete occasion sits beside it. Every row on today's audit stays open until rating and evidence are both there. | Teamwork rated 3 with evidence from covering a colleague's break without being asked |
3 - Rate, Then Choose Two Goals ~35 mins
Work the self-audit first. For each skill, rate yourself and give one specific occasion: what you were asked to do, what happened, and who saw it. Prefer occasions from your placement or your mock interview. If you have not yet completed a formal placement, draw occasions from prior part-time work, volunteering, or another real workplace-like setting, and write which source you used beside each evidence line. If mock-interview feedback is missing, use only placement (or equivalent) occasions and note that once at the top of the audit. A rating with no occasion does not count.
When the readout shows your strongest areas and where you have most room to grow, create or open Placement Progression Link in your Digital Portfolio folder for Strand 2.2 (workplace engagement and progression). Use these exact sections:
- Skills audit: eight rows (skill, rating 1–5, one occasion sentence, source: placement / mock interview / part-time / voluntary / other)
- Development goal 1: skill name; evidence source and occasion; one sentence on what better looks like in the next few months
- Development goal 2: same structure as Goal 1
- Tackle first / why: which goal comes first and one short reason
Copy each rating and its evidence line into the skills audit. Then name exactly two development goals you will carry into ALT 4. The evidence should drive the choice, not what sounds impressive. Leave the Tackle first / why section blank until the next step if you need the partner talk first.
Minimum complete entry for Portfolio in Action: eight skill rows each with rating and one occasion sentence plus source; Goal 1 and Goal 2 each with skill, evidence source, occasion, and what better looks like; then the priority note in step 4.
Skills and competencies under observation
4 - Think About It ~10 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, or sit with them quietly:
- You cannot plan a response to feedback without knowing which two things you are responding to. Looking at your two goals, which piece of evidence would still convince a stranger who has never met you?
- If one of your goals is only about feeling more confident, what observable action would replace that wording so ALT 4 has something you can actually check?
When you are ready, complete the Tackle first / why section in Placement Progression Link (the fourth section under your two goals): name which goal you will tackle first and why that one comes before the other.
5 - What You Covered ~5 mins
In this lesson you:
- Rated named transferable skills and competencies with evidence drawn from your placement, mock interview, or labelled equivalent experience
- Created or updated
Placement Progression Linkin the Strand 2.2 (workplace engagement and progression) folder with a full rated audit - Chose exactly two development goals backed by placement or mock-interview (or equivalent) evidence, each with the occasion that forced the choice
- Finished the Placement Progression Link so ALT 4 has two clear areas to answer, including which goal you will tackle first and why
Optional stretch: ask one person who saw you on placement or in the mock interview to rate your two lowest skills in a single sentence each. Note beside your own ratings where you agreed and where you did not.
Unlock the full learning experience
You're previewing this lesson. Get full access to this lesson and hundreds more — each one ready to teach, with interactive activities, printable resources and pupil progress tracking built in.
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.