Explain and review own role, responsibilities, and boundaries of role of teacher.
Senjaya Vienna (2008) mentioned that as a facilitator, a role the teacher provides services to facilitate students in learning activities. The role of the teacher as a facilitator to bring the consequences of changes in the pattern the teacher-student relationship, that is more “top-down” to the partnership.
According to Roger Schwarz (2002), ???A facilitator is someone who skilfully helps a group reaches a consensus without personally taking any side of the argument.??™
This can be likened to a teacher??™s role, where the aim is to help individual learners in a group setting understand their common objectives and assist them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular position in this discussion.
The teacher??™s role has been likened to that of as midwife, who assists in the birthing process but is not the producer of the end result (baby being born). Roger Schwarz (2002)
As a health and fitness teacher, teaching learners with varying abilities can be very challenging. It is therefore vital for me to assess the varying learning styles of my learners and also consider what motivates my learners and what prior knowledge or experiences they??™ve had in order to tailor and identify the appropriate teaching methods that could be useful throughout the program.
I must be able to adapt my teaching methods to suit any particular learner needs. Some strategies I employ are as follows: utilising professional discussions with learners who find writing particularly problematic, or even using a direct observation of a job being done.
My role as a teacher is to communicate effectively with my students, involving them actively, and listening to what they have to say. It is about giving ongoing constructive and positive feedback employing supportive strategies in place (one to ones).
My responsibility is to encourage progressive reflection in students to allow their personal growth and development to be useful to their lives. This is via self evaluation and discussions of practices.
Boundaries
A teacher??™s role is comprehensive and requires many skills. Boundaries therefore need to be put in place in order for both teacher and learner to recognise where your role as a teacher stops. GRAVELLS, A. (2007)
Boundaries are what forms our beliefs, and are vital to recognising our limitations and realising when changes may be needed. They should not get involved emotionally and always keep contact only on a professional level.
The teacher/learner relationship is very important as we as teachers need to be careful not to offend and respect pupils boundaries, keep confidentiality of learners, teach with no discrimination and aware of when it is appropriate to offer additional support on a one to one basis. My strategy for dealing with this is to request assistance from others to ensure an equal and positive learning.
Identify and summarise key aspects of relevant legislative requirements and codes of practice.
As teachers, we need to be aware of key aspects of current legislations and codes of practice relevant to our teaching. These have been put into place within organisations to provide guidelines about certain aspects of professional practice.
Having codes of practice ensures that everyone is aware of procedures in a given situation. The TSP Safeguarding code uses the Department of Health guidance in its document: No Secrets: Guidance on Developing and Implementing Multi-agency Policies and Procedures to Protect Vulnerable Adults from Abuse (2000) and in the DoH, Home Office and Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) (1999) document, Working Together to Safeguard Children.
It is imperative to my role to take the welfare of all learners very seriously but exercises particular concerns for the safety of young people and vulnerable adults. Other key legislations that all teachers, tutors, coachers etc need to have a good understanding of include:
* The Disability Discrimination Act (2005) – aims to end the discrimination which many disabled people face.
* The Sex Discrimination Act (1975) – which protected men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marriage.
* The Race Relations Act (1976 amended in 2000) – to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race.
* The Data Protection Act (1998) – protect peoples fundamental rights and freedoms and in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data.
* The Protection of Children Act (1999) – a system for identifying persons considered to be unsuitable to work with children.
* Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001- introduces the right for disabled students not to be discriminated against in education, training and any services. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
As teachers it is paramount to continue developing our knowledge and awareness of new and improved legislations in order to do our jobs effectively.
Working within the fitness and personal training teaching codes of practice I come across including: regular assessment practices of learners, staff development, health and safety awareness, safeguarding, equality and diversity etc. This is provided through the TSP Personal and Professional Development (PPD) Award.
Identify and review other points of referral available to meet potential needs of learners
As teachers, we must consider the nature of the skills that are being assessed and any problems for assessment prior to enrolling candidates, in order to offer additional support. All learners have the right to be achievers, and by adapting or teaching methods, only can we enhance their opportunities to achieve.
Many learners may require more complex additional support, as a result of physical disabilities, financial support, learning support, personal support. It must therefore be our duty of care to removing or minimising unnecessary barriers. Those that we can support are of enormous help in creating an environment in which learners feel supported.
It is unlikely for us to be able to provide individual learners with support in all areas therefore teachers should have an awareness of the sources of support available to them and to individual learners. You need to gain an understanding of:
-When to refer learners to others sources of support
-What other support is available for you.
We should look to refer learners requiring additional learning support to those staff members employed to provide it and applications for additional learning support must be made prior to assessment.
Identify and discuss issues of equality and diversity and ways to promote inclusion.
Equality in education is not about treating everyone the same; it is about giving everyone an equal opportunity to access the learning experience.
Diversity is about valuing the differences in people whether it relates to their gender, race, age, backgrounds, knowledge, skills and experiences, by encouraging and using those differences to broaden the learning experience.
Inclusivity is about involving all learners in relevant activities rather than excluding them for any reason either directly or indirectly
According to Petty (1998:69) ???It is our duty as teachers to promote equality and diversity and fully participate in its promotions in all aspects of our practices.??™
To promote equality, we need to respond positively to the diverse needs of our learners ensuring:
* that communication is clear,? using appropriate vocabulary and terminology, ensuring comment are not taken as discriminatory or offensive and checking that their body language is appropriate);
* that resources used (are not viewed as discriminatory or stereotypical and suitable to the learners??™ needs);
* that teaching methods (employed, allows all learners to participate and methods are varied and support all learning styles);
* that the learning environment gives learners opportunities to establish working relationships effectively, ensuring everybody is being included.
Explain and justify the need for record keeping.
As a teacher, it is important for me to keep accurate and effective records in order to be able to track and keep abreast with the progress of my learners, the effectiveness of communications between ourselves.
It is important to keep accurate records in order to evaluate the effectiveness of my delivery style to the learner??™s experience and also to know where strengths and weaknesses lay therefore making relevant improvements.
Records kept include progress reviews, assessment plans, my learner journey, personal and professional development progress, enrolment forms etc.
Records also satisfy the awarding bodies, for funding bodies e.g. Ofsted, who monitor standards in education. All of these agencies require personal details of students, attendance and attainment data as well as the review of completed portfolios to ensure that standards are being met.
These records kept are also required for auditing purposes where training quality, the monitoring of student numbers and progress, equality and diversity are justifiable.
References
Petty G (1998), Teaching Today, Nelson Thornes.
Roger Schwarz (Author); The Skilled Facilitator; Jossey-Bass ; ISBN: 0-7879-4723-7 (New & Revised July 2002)
GRAVELLS, A. (2007), Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong learning Sector, Learning Matters, UK.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
