CITY & GUILD 7303 – LEVEL 4
Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector
(PTLLS)
Assessment 1
Review what your role, responsibilities and boundaries would be as a teacher in terms of the teaching/training cycle and analyse different ways in which you would establish ground rules with your learners, which underpin behaviour and respect for others.
The purpose of this assessment is to review the role, responsibilities and boundaries of a teacher in relation to the teaching/training cycle and analysing the different ways to establish ground rules with learner.
The role I have undertaken most recently is a Learning Specialist for Lloyds Banking Group. Through my experience I believe the role of the teacher is to help the learner/s achieve their objectives. Gravells takes this one step further by saying adult learning is all about helping someone reach their full potential. (Gravells, 2008, p. 5)
The training cycle (Gravells, 2008, p. 28) (Appendix 1) is an excellent model to follow as the five stages will help the teacher ensure the learning is effective and relevant to the learners and/or organisation.
It is the role of the teacher to establish the needs of the organisation and/or the learners and to assess learner’s competence levels and gain knowledge on their motivators. A responsibility in my role was to contact individual learner prior to the course to determine their objectives, any dietary requirements, any learning requirements and motivators for attending; whilst establishing ground rules regarding date, time and location to ensure learners would turn up on time at the right place. Another responsibility is keeping learners personal information secure; teachers will have access to learner’s records and personal data, so it is vital to follow the guidelines under the Data Protection Act 1998.
The boundaries I found at this stage were around how learners felt about disclosing certain information, especially if they had been nominated to attend.
After needs have been identified the role of the teacher is to design a course to meet the needs of the organisation and individuals. The design may include; session plans, handouts, workbooks, presentation, activities, etc., however it is vital in any design to take into account learners preferences. Two models I have used are Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic (VAK) and Honey and Mumford (1992). It is essential to have a balanced approach to design and ensure all styles are catered for. Petty (Petty, 2004, p. 141) affirms this way of thinking by stating it is now thought that all students can learn in all these learning styles, and the more learning styles each learner experiences, the better.
The teacher is responsibile for producing a product outline including aim, objectives and learning outcomes as this would be essential at this stage.
The teacher has a responsiblity to consider issues such as facilities, refreshments and budget as all these may have restraints on the design along with organisational policies or procedures, legislation or governing bodies.
During the facilitating stage the role of the teacher is to deliver the course, with a responsibility for inducting learners to the course and the venue (whether the programme is for one day or over ten weeks), so learners have a clear understanding of expectations and standards. The teacher establishes ground rules as this sets the scene for the learning experience. I have found best practice is to contract with learners within the first 30 minutes of the course, and allow learners to work together to establish their own ground rules. This principle is backed by Petty (Petty, 2004, p. 96) who believes good teacher-student relationships are based on mutual respect and goes on to says it is important to realise the need to respect students as individuals within the group.
Other responsibilities will include creating an environment conducive to learning
