7304_Unit_2_Task_1_Theory

Theory Assignment Task 1 Research the following points: • Negotiating with learners e.g. initial assessment, agreeing goals and actions • Inclusive learning e.g. the use of different delivery methods, resources, adapting session plans • Integrating functional skills into your subject area (language, literacy, maths, ICT) • Communication e.g. verbal, non-verbal and possible barriers Negotiating with Learners: All learners have individual needs which should be identified through an initial assessment (including diagnostic) process to identify any specific needs and resources required. Initial assessment ensures the learner is undertaking the right course at the right level and is supported to achieve a successful outcome. This may require Individual Learning Plans to adapt the teaching delivery and will allow learners to agree all, or some, of their learning goals in negotiation with the tutor and ensures the tutor is appropriately prepared. The DCFS’s publication ‘Personalising Further Education: Developing a Vision’ talks about the aspects of negotiation required to ‘personalise’ learning opportunities to ensure a tailored learning journey for all learners, where they are ‘an active protagonist in that journey’, fully involved and achieving success (appendix a). At the beginning of a course, the tutor and students negotiate and agree rules by which they will work. This will ensure that everyone is clear about the boundaries that they will learn and operate within and helps tutors to manage and organise the class. Petty (reference 1) explains that ‘good class room organisation allows a lesson to run smoothly, so that good relationships can grow with positive experiences’. Negotiation also happens at other stages e.g negotiating a new deadline to hand in assignments but there will always be some elements that learners can’t negotiate e.g. the assignment criteria by the awarding body. Reece and Walker (reference 2) refer to the work of Farrington in 1996 who identified 26 areas to describe how adults learn best. The first of these is they are involved in negotiation which should be continuous. Adults make a choice to learn and so should accept a share of the responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating the course. Inclusive Learning: Learning opportunities should be available to everyone, whatever their abilities, to enable professional and personal development at all levels. They should be inclusive to ensure that learners are valued and given equal opportunities to participate and achieve. Petty (reference 3) states that our economy will not thrive if barriers to opportunity prevent us from making the best use of our human resources. Teachers have a professional duty to support every single learner as far as is reasonably possible. We should make sure we can accommodate learners from a range of contexts: • The physical aspect including sensory or cognitive disabilities. The Disability Discrimination Act provides key legislation that helps remove barriers in this context. • The social aspect where individuals feel they cannot access learning due to economic, demographic, emotional / mental health issues or cultural / group alienation aspects. Trainers need to embrace diversity to deliver inclusive learning activities but the basic tenet of teaching remains the same: • Respect and empathy for each individual • High but personalized expectations to ensure achievement for every learner • Be genuine and empower learners to be independent and self-reliant The QIA Excellence Gateway states: “Inclusive learning can be understood as a process of increasing the presence, participation and achievement of all learners in education settings in their local community. In this sense inclusive learning can be seen as a form of personalizing learning, ….” (appendix b) Inclusive learning removes the barriers, real or perceived, that reduce or exclude access to learning. The needs identified in the initial and diagnostic assessments are key to ensuring inclusive learning takes place. Through negotiation tutors can plan their resources and adapt their teaching plans, methods and delivery to ensure all the needs are met and inclusive learning takes place. Reece and Walker (reference 4) state “not only….a matter of legal rights and responsibilities, it is a question of removing all possible barriers to access aspiration and achievement for everyone…”. Integrating Functional Skills: Ofqual, the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator, states that functional skills are practical skills in English (language and literacy), mathematics, and information and communication technology (ICT) that allow individuals to work confidently, effectively and independently in life (reference 5) (appendix c). They explain that 'functional' should be considered broadly as providing learners with skills and knowledge needed to take an active and responsive role in their communities, workplaces and education. They are real skills that can be used everyday, are transferable and enable individuals to achieve success. Tutors need to be clear at what level of functional skills learners need to have to succeed on the course. The initial assessment process will help the trainer identify potential problems with functional skills. When additional needs are identified tutors should check that they can provide support through different teaching methods and individual learning plans, or, if not, ensure extra support is brought in appropriately e.g. ESOL. The tutor may need to refer learners to specialist support services. In the Embedding functional skills on vocational courses booklet it states: “Skills for Life practitioners often argue how it makes sense to ‘embed' literacy, language and numeracy (LLN) in vocational courses rather than teach them in isolation. They say learners are much more ready to improve their number skills if it is clear that this will help them succeed with their vocational studies or at work.” (reference 6). However, functional skills can be embedded within academic courses as well and tutors may identify gaps in these skills throughout a course e.g. poor written work could indicate problems with literacy or bad timekeeping may indicate a problem with numeracy. Communication: Robbins (reference 7) defines communication as “invisible transfer and understanding of meaning.” Communication is very important in all interactions with people, animals and even machines. It can take place between 2 people and a large group e.g. audience. The other person must be able to understand what you’re saying, what you mean and why they need to know (appendix d). It can be verbal or non-verbal e.g. body language. Tutors need to be good communicators able to get the learning messages across in a way that learners can understand and make use of. Communication is a circular process and each stage in the sequence needs to take place before transference and understanding of meaning occurs: • The communication source initiates an idea to convery • The source encodes the thought – translates the meanings into a message to be communicated • The channel is the medium the communication travels on e.g. email, speech, gestures, etc • The message is directed to the receiver • The receiver decodes the message into an interpreted meaning • The receiver feeds back a response / reaction to the message - providing a check on how successful the transference has been. The ideal state is when the source’s intended meanings and the receiver’s interpretation of them are the same. However, errors can occur at all stages and the process has many weak spots i.e. if voice and body language are not the same, most receivers will trust the body language. Reece and Walker (reference 8) explain that the complexities of communication include the motive and thoughts of the teacher delivering the message and the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the students attempting to decode and understand the message. Good communication needs a feedback loop which links into our formative assessment processes. Conclusion All these four areas overlap significantly and each one contains elements of the other three. All four areas need good communication skills to work effectively and negotiation is itself an inclusive process, and embedding functional skills needs to be inclusive and negotiated to be successful. A failure in any of these areas will have an impact on the learner. A failure to negotiate e.g. ground rules or learning goals, may reduce achievement levels and disempower learners leading to disengagement. A failure to provide inclusive learning creates an exclusive culture disempowering learners. The Disability Discrimination Act enforces making reasonable adjustments to support learners but some areas are vague e.g. learning difficulties such as dyspraxia are difficult to diagnose and it can be difficult for tutors to adapt lessons appropriately. A failure to embed functional skills has an impact on learners career options as employers need staff with good levels of numeracy and literacy and also ICT. It can also disempower learners from higher level courses. Any communication difficulty creates problems and communication is key to achieving success in all areas of learning. Therefore it is critical to ensure all areas are supported by competent teachers who consistently review and evaluate their performance to provide the best possible and effective service to students. Word count 1400 References 1. Petty G – Teaching Today page 101 – Nelson Thornes 2004 2. Reece and Walker – Teaching Training and Learning p6 and 7 - Business Education Publishers 2007 A1 JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) – negotiate learning goals - effective practice with e-learning case studies internet pages printout A2 DCSF – Personalising Further Education: Developing a Vision – downloaded document A3 LLUK – response to the DCSF – Personalising Further Education - downloaded document A4 Community Universtity of the Valleys Partnership – Negotiating the Curriculum and Ensuring Learner Democracy – downloaded document 3. Petty G – Teaching Today p82 Nelson Thornes 2004 4. Reece and Walker – Teaching Training and Learning p297 - Business Education Publishers 2007 B1 QIA Excellence Gateway – Inclusive Learning and Teaching - internet pages printout B2 QIA Excellence Gateway – Teaching Students with Disabilities - internet pages printout B3 QIA Excellence Gateway – Education and Disability Legislation - internet pages printout B4 Social Policy and Social Work - Supporting Inclusive Learning and Teaching - internet pages printout B5 Liverpool Community College – staff development on differentiation - internet pages printout B6 Janet Tod’s paper on Inclusive Learning and Teaching in the 21st century presented at the International Special Education Congress 2000 – internet pages printout 5. http://www.ofqual.gov.uk 6. Quality Improvement Agency – Embedding functional Skills on Vocational Courses – www.excellencegateway.org.uk C1 Early Years Funding Form – levels of functional skills required in literacy and numeracy C2 QIA – Embedding functional skills on vocational courses – internet pages printout C3 Skills for Life Development Centre – what is embedding' – internet pages printout C4 Asset Skills (skills for business) Embedding functional Skills – downloaded document C5 QCA – Functional Skills: essential for life, learning and work 7. Robbins SP – Organisational Behaviour Communication section – Prentice-Hall 1993 8. Reece and Walker – Teaching Training and Learning p274 - Business Education Publishers 2007 D1 Communications unit notes - BA Business Studies Bournemouth University D2 Planning to Communicate – Churchill Associates training handout D3 Business Balls.com – Johari Window diagram and notes – internet pages printout Bailey A and Egan G – Talk Works – how to get more out of life through better conversations – BT publishers 1999 Websites visited: http://www.excellence.qia.org.uk http://www.lluk.org/3394.htm http://www.isec2000.org.uk http://www.swap.ac.uk http://www.sllp.org.uk http://www.sfldc.org http://www.dcsf.gov.uk http://www.jisc.ac.uk http://www.businessballs.com http://dcsf.gov.uk Early Years Foundation Stage – Principle into Practice Cards and framework – DCSF 2008