Personal Learning Plan (PLP)
What is the Personal Learning Plan?
The Stage 1 Personal Learning Plan (PLP) is a 10-credit subject designed to help students to make informed decisions about their personal development, education, and training. It is a compulsory requirement of the SACE.
Students must complete 10 credits of the Stage 1 Personal Learning Plan with a C grade or better to gain their SACE. Schools will generally organise for students to start the subject in Year 10 so that they can plan for successful SACE learning in Years 11 and 12.
The PLP supports students in developing knowledge and skills that will enable them to:
- identify appropriate future options
- choose appropriate subjects and courses for their SACE
- review their strengths and areas for development, including skills in literacy, numeracy, and information and communication technologies
- identify goals and plans for improvement
- monitor their actions and review and adjust plans as needed to achieve their goals
The program of learning provides students with time to work with their teachers and other experts to develop knowledge and skills in planning for their SACE and their future beyond school. The aim is for each student to achieve success in the SACE and to prepare for work, further education and training, and community life.
Typically, the PLP is undertaken over 60 hours of programmed time in a semester or school year. It is designed to develop students’ capabilities. Students learn how to develop, implement, review, and adjust personal learning goals and choices to prepare for their education and their future career and life pathways.
The PLP and the Program of Learning
The Stage 1 Personal Learning Plan requires teachers to plan and implement a structured program of learning to enable students to gain the knowledge and skills to develop, implement, review, and adjust their plans. Although programs are likely to vary between schools, some elements are common to all programs.
This subject outline identifies those common elements and suggests starting points for teaching and learning programs that are designed to meet the needs, interests, and goals of individuals or groups of students.
Individual students require different learning activities to develop their capabilities. Teachers devise programs that support and teach students to:
- develop, implement, review, and adjust their plans
- identify their learning strengths and areas for development, including their capabilities and literacy and numeracy skills, as well as other knowledge and skills that they need to choose particular pathways through education and training, life, and careers
- develop skills in literacy, numeracy, and information and communication technologies
- research options and preferences for employment, study, training, and community participation, using expert source
- identify goals to build on their strengths, address their challenges, and develop the capabilities they will need for success throughout the SACE and beyond
- work towards articulating their capabilities and making their future options become a reality.
The performance standards describe levels of student achievement. Teachers and students use the performance standards in conjunction with the learning requirements and the assessment design criteria to plan a relevant, structured learning program. Teachers use the performance standards to determine the level of each student’s achievement. Therefore, the performance standards are central to the teaching and learning program.
