Developing Self and Others AO Example Statement (250 Words)
At AO, assessors want proof you are coachable: you spotted a gap in your own work, sought feedback or training, and changed something specific because of it. Helping others can be small and informal — showing a new starter a process counts. One honest story with a measured improvement beats a list of courses.
Example statement
SI worked as a care assistant in a residential home with 28 residents. My handover notes were thin, and twice the night staff missed details about residents' changed needs, which my manager raised with me directly.
TI asked to shadow Mo, our senior carer, for three shifts so I could learn how he captured and passed on the detail that mattered.
ABefore each shift with Mo, I wrote down three things I wanted to learn, from wording notes to spotting changes in mobility. I watched how he chatted with residents while delivering care, picking up information I would have missed, and how he structured handovers around risk first. After each shift I rewrote my own notes using his structure and asked him to mark them honestly. He said I still buried important changes inside long sentences, so I began leading every entry with the change and keeping background to one line. When I suggested a shared one-page summary for residents with new needs, Mo helped me trial it for a fortnight and told me which parts the night team actually read; I cut the rest. By the third week my notes needed no corrections, so I asked Mo to observe me leading part of a handover and give me feedback on that too.
RMissed details in my handovers dropped to zero over the following month, the one-page summary was adopted for all 28 residents, and my manager asked me to show two new starters the structure.
Use this as a model, not a script. This is an original example written for this site. Adapt the structure to your own experience — copying it word for word risks plagiarism and will not reflect your evidence.
Why this scores well
- Shadowing with written learning goals shows deliberate self-development rather than passive observation — exactly what the AO descriptor rewards.
- Feedback is sought repeatedly (marked notes, an observed handover) and visibly acted on, the core positive indicator at this grade.
- The result is measured (zero missed details, 28 residents) and ends with the writer teaching new starters, so growth flows outward.
What AO level requires
| Grade | What assessors expect |
|---|---|
| AO ← this page | At AO, Developing Self and Others means knowing your strengths and gaps, asking for feedback and acting on it, taking up training willingly, and helping colleagues with everyday tasks when you can. |
| EO | At EO, Developing Self and Others means actively building your own skills, sharing knowledge across the team, giving colleagues helpful feedback and coaching them through tasks when needed. |
| HEO | At HEO, Developing Self and Others means deliberately making time to develop others — coaching, mentoring and arranging learning — while showing you act on feedback about your own performance. |
Common mistakes at this level
- Describing the team improving while your own actions stay invisible
- Ending with 'I learned a lot' instead of a result with a number
- Hiding the original mistake so the story sounds perfect from the start
Frequently asked questions
It helps but is not essential. The AO descriptor centres on your own learning and openness to feedback. Informal help — showing a colleague a process, sharing a shortcut — strengthens a statement, but a well-told story about your own development, with feedback acted on and a measured result, can score well on its own.
Yes, and it usually helps. This behaviour rewards self-awareness, and a real error makes your development credible. State the problem plainly, avoid blaming others, and spend most of your words on what you did to fix it and what changed. A spotless story often scores worse than an honest one.
Specificity. A named gap, feedback you actually acted on, actions described step by step in the first person, and a result with a number. The setting can be completely ordinary — assessors score the evidence, not the drama. A humble story told precisely beats an impressive story told vaguely.
Next step
Get the free AO statement template pack — the same STAR structure used in this example.
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