Your Placement and Activity journals are more than a diary of events. They are the key to your future success. This guide shows you how to make your reflections awesome.

Reflecting is a superpower

Why bother writing a journal? Thinking about your experiences helps you recognise the valuable skills you can offer to impress future employers and universities.

What's in it for you?

  • Know your skills. Identify and describe the new skills and abilities you're gaining, from technical know-how to teamwork and communication.
  • Get better at learning. The act of reflection is a crucial life skill that helps you learn and understand your ability to adapt in any situation.
  • Be more confident. Track your progress and see how you've overcome challenges, giving you a massive confidence boost in the workplace.
  • Move towards goals. Taking the time to visualise your growth and record your progress towards achieving goals can be a very powerful motivator.

Steps to a great reflection

A little reflection transforms a simple list of tasks into a powerful story of growth and learning.

A basic entry: "Today an employer came in to speak to us about their company, it was interesting."

A reflective entry answers these questions:

  • What happened? An employer came to speak to us about their company and working in the industry.
  • How I felt: I didn't know what to expect so wasn't excited about it, but they were really engaging, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
  • What I learnt: I learnt a lot about the company including different career paths I could take, but I also learnt to be more positive about opportunities offered to me in the future.
  • What I would change: Next time I will try to be more confident and ask the questions I wanted to.
  • What's next? I'm going to do some research on some of the job roles they mentioned to find out more.

Stuck for ideas?

Try these prompts to get started:

  • What was the most important thing that happened today?
  • What have you done to evidence progression towards your Placement Learning Objective Targets?
  • Has this changed your mind about your career?

Head to www.navigate.uk.com/traininghub to find out how to add your Placement Learning Journal.

Source document attached below.