Ptlls_Assessment_One

05/03/10 Assignment: Section One Rodney Bantleman SS120006 Task One (Word Count: 771) • Describe what your role, responsibilities and boundaries would be as a teacher in terms of the teaching/training cycle. In my current role as an NVQ trainer/assessor there are certain responsibilities that I am obliged to undertake in order to maintain the quality and the teaching methods expected from the training provider I work for and the governing bodies involved, such as the LSC, Train to Gain, OFSTED and the MATRIX quality standard for information, advice and guidance. I’ve been made aware of the teaching cycle in the past but never really given it too much attention other then making sure I’ve met the criteria by populating the required paperwork supplied by my employer. More often then not it seems to be a case of ‘ticking all the right boxes’ rather then actually taking onboard the values behind the structure of the cycle and putting it to use. When I read through section one of the PTLLS course material my initial reaction was to say, ‘well most of this is done for me!’ It’s true that lesson plans, course materials, attendance records, feedback and evaluation records and even self reflection documents are already supplied for me to use. However, after reading through the section about the teaching cycle and the responsibilities and boundaries outlined for the teacher/trainer role it began to dawn on me that in actual fact, I do take things a step further then just careful planning and structure. I’ve begun keeping individual records of my learners and the progress they make over the period of the course. The records tell me what initial literacy and numeracy scores where achieved and this gives me an indication of the level of support required during the course. I am also able to conduct one to one conversations with the learners and discuss learning requirements. The training I conduct sometimes requires class members to participate in activities, so talking to the learners can help me understand if they are comfortable with this or not. Once I have spoken to my learners I am able to identify additional resource, normally from the internet, and pass it onto the learners that express an interest in taking their education further. Although this is a practice that I have adopted as a way to make and maintain some sort of professional relationship with my learners, I can see how it fits in well with the teaching cycle. The one to one discussions have become an invaluable part of my teaching practice and allow me to make relevant changes to the structured lesson plans which will help suite the needs of the group I am training. This in turn reflects on the techniques I use during the delivery of a lesson. I have also begun to feedback any changes to my employer which gives me a chance to document any reflect on any changes, for example, what worked and what didn’t work. I believe that the teaching cycle has a natural logic and gives me a chance to create, what I hope, is an enjoyable teaching experience for the people who take part. As well as relying on a prepared lesson structure the success of the training also relies on the relationship and professional boundaries developed with the group and the individuals in the group. Relationships I form with learners often need to differ depending on whether I am assessing or training but it is interesting to note that professional boundaries remain the same. As an assessor my role is to support the learner through the NVQ and offer feedback and advice on the work they submit. Part of the feedback is to offer further advice and guidance on aspects of health and safety, equality and diversity and also discrimination in the workplace and this often requires a rather open discussion. On one occasion a concern about bullying in the workplace was raised by one of the learners. In this case, as his assessor, I was obliged to record the comments and then offer him advice on how he could proceed with his concerns, however, the individual was very nervous about taking the matter further on their own. After taking some advice from my head office I was advised to offer to introduce the individual to the human resource department and explain the concerns raised but after this I would not be able to take the matter any further on his behalf as he would need to follow the company procedures written for such situations. When reflecting on this particular situation it is interesting for me to see how the relationship naturally shifted from one of an ‘open chat’ to one of ‘professional advice’ while maintaining the associated boundaries required for the role of an assessor.