Investigating_the_Work_Setting

Investigating the Work Setting (UNB2602) Module One Joanne Sparks Contents Page 3 Module one Page 4 Mind Map Page 5 Job description Page 6 Job description Page 7 Job description Page 8 Learning Activity 2 Page 9 Self Audit table Page 10 Activity 3 Page 11 Activity 3 Page 12 Activity 4 Page 13 Activity 4 Page 14 Activity 4 Page 15 Activity 4 Page 16 Activity 4 Page 17 Activity 4 Page 18 Conclusion Page 19 Conclusion Bibliographies Google and various websites. Every Child Matters Thanks to various colleagues Module One Learning Activity 1 I have been asked for Module 1 to investigate my work setting. At the end of this module I will be able to: 1. Carry out a self-audit of personal knowledge and skills based on the requirements identified in the first learning outcome. 2. Identify the requirements and competencies of my work role. 3. Describe the organisation of my workplace and my position in it. 4. Identify opportunities for my further learning in the workplace (start of my personal development plan). 5. Develop a Learning Journal. 6. Consider how my own learning can contribute to my work role and enhance my work place. I firstly approached the module by printing off the Learning activities. I found this a useful piece of information and from it I was able to put together my Individual Learning Plan (ILP). I began to check through my ILP and checked each intended learning outcome and each learning activity. I then went on to look at each learning activity in more detail. Learning Activity 1 Researching the key requirements and competencies of my role: I started off by looking at my main role in the school; the role of the LSA with full responsibility for delivering Art and Design using the WJEC board at Entry level. I listed the requirements that I felt were needed for an LSA in my environment. I like to work with mind maps as I find this a useful way to bring together ideas. I began by creating a list in my learning journal and looked carefully at what I actually did in my lessons. From this I was able to draw up a mind map, which contained fourteen elements and highlighted the fact that my role is very much split into two main areas: the pastoral side and the practical side. Using this as a reference, following my next teaching session I was able to extract the ten key elements that I felt were most pertinent for Learning Activity 2. Mind Map To extend my research into the key requirements and competencies of my role I then looked at my current job description. My current job description: Job Title: Learning Support assistant/Administrator Responsible to: Head of Education Main purpose of post: To assist the pupils in their learning by working in partnership with the class teacher. Cover the administration duties of the school. Responsibilities: This job description describes in general terms the normal duties that the post –holder will be expected to undertake. However, the job or duties described may vary or be amended from time to time without changing the level of responsibility associated with the post. Teaching and Learning: • Assist in the educational and social development of pupils, reinforcing and clarifying instructions under the direction and guidance of the class teacher. • Work closely with the class teacher, assist in the development and implementation of Individual Education Programmes for students. • Take responsibility for specific learning tasks as directed by the class teacher. • Provide guidance, encouragement and praise. Help children to stay on task and give any necessary support to complete tasks. • Work with any other professionals, such as speech therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists as necessary. • Assist class teachers with maintaining school records. • Sensitively support students with their personal needs, as required. Administrative duties. • Prepare and present work of students. • Support class teachers in photocopying and other tasks in order to support learning. • Undertake other duties from time to time, as the Head of Education and trustees require. • Answering the telephone. • Collating and distribution of emails. • General office administration tasks. Standards and quality assurance. • Support the aims and ethos of the schools. • Set a good example in terms of dress, punctuality and attendance. • Attend staff meetings. • Undertake other professional duties that may be reasonably assigned. • Be proactive in matters relating to health and safety, constantly being aware of the safety and well being of students. Other duties and responsibilities. • Embrace the technology that is available within the school. • Attend staff development workshops, inset days and school open days as required. • Accompany students on visits/trips and outings. This description will be reviewed in line with the School Development Plan and is subject to change through negotiation with the Trustees. In addition, it will also form the basis of discussion for Performance Management Reviews. When I compared the list that I had drawn up from my mind map to the above job description, I noticed that there were several discrepancies and so I decided to plan a meeting with my line manager (Sandy) in order to discuss these differences. I have kept notes of these discussions in my learning journal. As ours is a small and new school we agreed that there is a need for all staff to be flexible and to an extent this needs to include all job descriptions nevertheless we mutually agreed some changes that need to be made to the above job description. We both felt that the job description was rather vague and in particular the job title and the responsibilities listed did not reflect the fact that I have sole responsibility for the planning and delivery of Art & Design. The need for me to be able to work independently is not currently stressed enough. However, the discussion showed that my understanding of my role matches that of my line manager and that it is the job description that needs to be enhanced to reflect this rather than me having to change my priorities. As a result I have now agreed to draw up a revised job description for submission for approval from the trustees. A timescale for this has to be agreed. In preparation for this I have also done some research on the Internet using Google to find out what the general job description is for the LSA. I found an interesting web site www.lg-employers.gov.uk. I have logged this for future reference in my LJ. This website was also very informative of further training for the LSA and I would definitely use this document as a referral point again as it was extremely comprehensive. The article has really made me think about how extensive a support role is and how vital a good LSA can be in the school. It also gave me a clear guidance on my own job description and thoughts on how best to present this to the Trustees. The third way in which I clarified the key requirements and competencies of my role was through discussion with other people. In particular I have a friend, Sarah, who is an LSA in a much bigger school. We compared our roles and chatted through the qualities we thought were important. I have recorded this discussion in my learning journal, as it produced some interesting results that I felt might be relevant later in the course. Whilst Sarah agreed with the key elements identified in my mind map she added two further aspects that she felt were important; 1. To be able to identify specific tools that could be utilised in order for a student to make progress with their I.E.P.s. 2. Whilst Sarah agreed that verbal communication was important with the parents she also felt that is was useful to report in a written context to clarify to both parents and students the conversation and to keep a record of this. This lead to a more general chat about our roles, which brought to light other differences. Sarah saw herself as very much part of a team and her directive was always given to her by her teacher-in-charge, where as my role is often more independent. The exception to this however, is Sarah is responsible for running the after school clubs and her directives are then taken from the headmaster. Nevertheless, Sarah felt her role is more limited than mine because it is very much constrained by the national curriculum and tends to be repetitive. The Literacy and Numeracy strategies are always the same and Sarah’s input only varies depending upon the number of children with I.E.P.s in any particular set, typically this tends to be two or three in a group of fifteen. As a result she feels that her role is very much more a supportive role, whereas I have a specific subject to deliver, including the Long Term Planning, Short Term Planning and the Weekly Planning. Sarah describes herself as a cog in a wheel and seems to feel undervalued. This feeling was reinforced when she received a routine appraisal which she felt was scheduled more as a result of the forthcoming OFSTED than as a result of her schools desire to encourage staff development. This conversation with Sarah has made me realise that my role at Stepping Stones is far broader in content than a typical LSA and this has resulted in me having a very steep learning curve, potentially, however, it may also have far greater rewards. Learning Activity 2 Using the information researched in Learning Activity 1 it was now possible to draw up a list of the ten key elements of my role as an L.S.A. In order to achieve this it was necessary to prioritise the fourteen elements identified in my mind map and reduce it to ten. The difficulty was whether the pastoral elements should be considered more or less important than the practical elements. It really is difficult as when working with special needs children, in particular, I feel that the pastoral elements are crucial yet without the practical it is difficult to give the student all the skills they require to move on. However, having thought back to my day at Treloars Special School and looking at the ‘Every Child Matters’ campaign by the government I decided on the following list placing the pastoral elements at a higher level. My justification for this is that if we do not take into account the basic requirements of the ‘Every Child Matters’; be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well – being, then we have to question if the child is in a position to academically succeed. List to show the ten most important requirements/competencies I believe are required to carry out my role as an LSA at Stepping Stones 1. A strong desire to make a positive difference to these students. 2. Enable the students to become as independent as possible. 3. Use appropriate, positive communication with the students. 4. Have patience and empathy with the students. 5. Work as part of a team. 6. Communicate well with all interested parties. 7. Be flexible. 8. Knowledge of the curriculum. 9. Good I.C.T skills. 10. Work with and understand the requirements of the physio in relation to the student’s need. This was indeed difficult but the following stage is to do a self-audit on the list. Having chatted with colleagues I agreed that ‘praising’ myself was not one of my main attributes, as is with many of us, and most of the time I am all too ready to critise myself. I decided to chat this through with my line manager and I have recorded the discussion in my L. Self-Audit Table |Requirement |Excellent |Very Good |Good |Fair | |Desire to make a difference. | | | | | |Communicate well with students. | | | | | |Enable students to become as | | | | | |independent as possible. | | | | | |Have patience and empathy with the | | | | | |students. | | | | | |Work as part of a team. | | | | | |Communicate well in all aspects of my | | | | | |job. | | | | | |Be Flexible | | | | | |Knowledge of the curriculum | | | | | |I.C.T | | | | | |Work with the Physio | | | | | In the discussion with my line manager regarding the list we decided that my scoring in general was o.k. but she felt I could score my self higher in the ‘working as part of a team’. I did this and moved up to ‘very good’. We chatted about my ability to be flexible and as my line manager pointed out this is a vital aspect of my role as the school team is small and we all need to be able to develop with the school, as it is such a bespoke organisation. She also agreed with my thoughts on the day at Treloars School and as a result I added ‘ enabling children to work more independently’ to my list. The list has inspired and focused me to really think about how I am going to achieve higher scores in my weak areas and I certainly wish to improve my I.C.T skills. It has also given me reassurance as regards to my strengths. Learning Activity 3 I have decided in this activity to look into the training that is available through the school and how it could help me develop my role within Stepping Stones. I have recorded a conversation in my LJ with my line manager. The first aspect I wanted to clarify was ‘ who is actually responsible for LSA training’. After some discussion with my line manager she felt that at this moment in time it came under her domain but this may well change as the management team develops. In the discussion we agreed that visiting other schools was important, especially as Stepping Stones is a new organisation and there is a lot we can learn from existing organisations. Shadowing came into this aspect and setting up links with other schools is one of her priorities as is talking to other professionals in our area of work. So far this year I have visited Alfriston School for girls and Treloars, a school for children who board and are in the main wheelchair bound. These both proved extremely useful visits and really made me think about our students and how we address some of their issues. I have worked at Stepping Stones for nearly two years and as of yet I have not had a staff appraisal, something I felt needed to be addressed. It has been agreed with the trustees and the Head of Education that this will now take place on an annual basis and the criteria for this is being discussed at the moment. However, I do feel that it is important to clarify why I feel an appraisal is an important as it is an area I would like to develop at a later date. • It is important to identify that the jobholder is doing the job effectively and to identify areas for improvement. • To provide feedback: this may provide motivation. • To provide an opportunity to acknowledge successes, possibly linking to a reward system. • To identify training and development opportunities. For an appraisal to be effective the following guidelines should be adhered to: • It is important to be specific – clear and definite about what is required. • It must be measurable – possible to measure against objective. • Achievable – objectives can be stretching or challenging, but must be designed to be achievable. • Timed – you need to know what is expected of you and when. Informal training takes place regularly at Stepping Stones and we often have in house I.T training and have regular staff meetings where any issues can be raised and discussed including training that we may feel is relevant. Formal training is always welcomed and so far this year I have completed a St Johns Ambulance Emergency in Schools Course, Food Hygiene and a Child Protection course all of which have proved useful. We are also attempting the Three Peaks challenge this year and I feel that really keeps us focused and working as part of a team. The discussion also encompassed mentors and I have been assigned to Anne Hayes a trustee of the school. Anne is an ex head, government advisor to schools. She is a qualified OFSTED Inspector, an assessor of overseas trained teachers status, school improvement Advisor for Bucks and currently studying part time for an MA in School Improvement. Anne will be doing my classroom observations and I see this as an excellent opportunity to further my development as an LSA in Stepping Stones. I see my role in Stepping Stones as a developing one and to be involved in an innovative school makes the future unknown and exciting. To sum up what I feel about my opportunities for learning I have made a list of which I consider to be the most important. • The school is open and willing to engage its staff in new training. • To have a mentor is essential. • To encourage the input of other schools. • To have access to appropriate management to talk through any ideas that I feel is necessary to my advancement in my job. • The degree I am now doing. Activity 4 This activity required me to record a typical day at school First Lesson of the day R.E Figure 1 I am somewhat surprised at my expression in this picture! This was the first lesson of the day on the 23/03/06. The subject I was taking was R.E and despite the look on my face we were having fun. We were looking at Mother Teresa and her life. I asked the children to identify 10 possessions that were important to them and why. This resulted in a very interesting group conversation and one that was very enjoyable. [pic] Figure 2 At 10.30 am I worked in the office for half an hour looking at the weekly planning for art next week. Figure 3 [pic] Just before break I went back into the classroom and did some work with one of our younger students. [pic] Figure 4 Time for a morning break and the students are making toast. Figure 5 [pic] Back into the classroom and P.E ! We always start off with stretching. We then decided to do some Badminton and ball games outside Figure 6 [pic] And then it was time for lunch. We all eat together. Figure 7 [pic] When the afternoon arrived I had a meeting booked with the Physiotherapist and one of the parents. We were going to discuss the outcome of the physio assessment and plan the stretching routine that would go into the students I.E.P. This proved to be an interesting and informative meeting. Figure 8 [pic] The meeting ended at 4.00pm and it was time to leave work for the day. Activity 5 This now brings me to a point where a conclusion is needed and I will endeavour to analyse and pull the units together. In the beginning I read the ILP guide, made a few minor changes and loaded it into my assessment folder. I found this somewhat daunting. I had a chat with my tutor, he suggested a few minor changes and I corrected them. I then spent some time chatting to people, organising my thoughts, reading articles and generally preparing myself for the module. I began to make a list of what I thought I needed to be a good L.S.A. This really helped me focus and on reflection made me think a lot more about what skills I take into the classroom. I was very interested in chatting my role through with others, especially Sarah, who was frustrated with her role and the way she was perceived, unlike one of my colleagues at Stepping Stones who said in a discussion with her, “ I personally feel very privileged to be part of a forward thinking, holistic learning environment”. On reflection I feel very blessed to be part of this bespoke school. I enjoyed using the internet but it really is a world wide tool and sifting through the amount of information was time consuming and I only found a couple of sites worth remembering. I did, however, find the Every Child Matters book very informative and it has influenced my priorities. When evaluating myself a difficulty arose immediately. I found it hard to narrow my initial list and put it into order of importance. On reflection this has really helped me focus on the pastoral element and I found the list gave me clarity. I then did the self-evaluation list and I am happy with the results and glad that it shows some of my weaknesses so that I can focus on improving them. I found the interview with my line manager regarding training very valuable and it helped clarify that not only is the school very much in favour of training but also insists upon it. Indeed without their help I would not be able to partake in this degree. I identified what the school already does but I was able to bring to the forefront the issue of appraisals and this is something that I am keen to develop. In the day of my working life I used a digital camera to take photos and put explanatory text with each one. This encouraged me to present using a different format and I have now got the confidence to try other techniques. The use of the camera helped me reflect quite harshly on myself. It was a fun day and one, which I really enjoyed, but my facial expressions does not show this and I was really surprised at how intense I look. I will try to endeavour to convey how I am feeling with the students in my facial expressions in future! In conclusion, from the evaluations and reflections I have confirmed to myself that my role as an L.S.A is multifaceted and that each small task is important to the running of and the wellbeing of the students. Every day must be approached with a pro-active, positive and nurturing frame of mind. I have evaluated my levels of competence, discussed with colleagues and learnt to really put into practice what I feel is needed to be a good L.S.A. I need to take on board each daily task and learn from it. There is no point in reading literature, listening to colleagues and going to training seminars if we fail to subsequently integrate this learning into the classroom. ----------------------- DESIRE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE Communicate with students Have patience Have empathy Observation skills Communicate with staff Work as part of a team Have respect for students and colleagues Develop independence Handle Behaviour problems Communicate with parents Be aware of National Curriculum Basic I.T skills Aware of school policies Engage in staff development Ensure students stay on task giving praise and guidance appropriately Have knowledge of special needs Be able to prioritise