VCE VM Personal Development Skills Units 1 and 2

TERTIARY & CAREER PATHWAYS:‍

For students seeking a pathway to indirect university entry, Technical and Further Education (TAFE), apprenticeships / traineeships or employment. 

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UNIT 1 - Healthy individuals

This unit focuses on the development of personal identity and individual pathways to optimal health and wellbeing. It begins with concepts of personal identity and the range of factors that contribute to an individual’s perception of self and individual health and wellbeing. Students will use these findings to enhance an understanding of community cohesion, community engagement and how sense of identity may affect outcomes in different contexts. Students will investigate the elements of emotional intelligence and begin to develop an awareness of interrelationships between communities and the health and wellbeing of individuals.

Students will investigate local health-promoting organisations and resources and play an active, participatory role in designing and implementing activities or mechanisms to improve health and wellbeing. This unit highlights the importance of critical and creative thinking and clear communication as individuals explore personal identity and the role of community. Students will examine relationships between technologies and health and wellbeing, and develop tools for analysing the reliability, validity and accuracy of information and the efficacy of health messages.

Key Skills

• the concept of personal identity
• personal identity and emotional intelligence within different contexts, such as education, employment, social, family and online
• the elements of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills
• strategies to develop and apply the elements of emotional intelligence in relation to self, such as resilience, effective communication, a strengths-based approach, problem-solving, conflict resolution and self-management
• strategies to develop and apply metacognitive skills relating to personal identity and emotional intelligence.
  

UNIT 2 - Connecting with Community

This unit focuses on the benefits of community participation and how people can work together effectively to achieve a shared goal. It begins with definitions of community and different types of communities at a local, national and global level. Students will look at the relationships between active citizenship, empathy and connection to culture, and individual health and wellbeing. They will investigate the barriers and enablers to problem solving within the community.

In the topic of community engagement, students will seek to understand different perspectives on issues affecting a community. They will reflect on relationships between community issues, social cohesion, and health and wellbeing, and the importance of clear information and communication. Students will investigate how communities may be called upon to support individual members and identify effective strategies for creating positive community change. They will plan, implement and evaluate an active response to an individual’s need for community support.

Key Skills:

• the concept of community at a local, national and global level
• characteristics that influence the formation of community, such as geography and demographics
• different groups within the community
• the roles, rights and responsibilities of citizens
• community engagement, including active citizenship, leadership, empathy and connection to culture
• strategies to promote community participation
• the influence of social, cultural, environmental and economic factors on groups within the community, including indigenous communities

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