Pttls_Assignment_1.1

Role, Responsibilities & Boundaries. As a tutor I believe that your role is to teach and support learners to fulfil the course requirements and to make sure that they feel safe and to make learning a positive experience. I believe that a tutor must behave with professional integrity; this means a tutor must be honest, supportive and promote good behaviour in others. As a tutor I think that it is important to have boundaries with your learners. For example, not divulging certain personal details, or offering to take learners home after a session or giving out your home phone number. If a tutor did do any of these things, it could blur the boundaries and learners could feel that you are more of a friend than a tutor. I think that as a tutor you need to have respect for your learners, and respect their views and needs. However I do believe that it is ok to challenge negative views within a group of learners, but this must be done sensitively and you need to take in to consideration the other learners in the group. I think as a tutor your role is to make sure the group know what is going on in a lesson and what their aims and goals are. A good tutor will always prepare a lesson plan and give it to the group, this way everyone knows what the session will involve and responsibilities will be clear. I also think as a tutor it is your responsibility to make sure the group set ground rules. I believe a tutor also needs to be approachable, some learners will be less able than others, and those individuals need to feel able to approach the tutor for help and support. A tutor should be able to assess the group, and set tasks, activities and work that is inclusive, yet challenging to the group as a whole. It is important to assess people’s skills, knowledge, strengths and weaknesses in order to know what support, if any they may require. Good assessment skills will help a tutor to plan and deliver a good course. A tutor needs to take responsibility for the safeguarding of the group to make sure that everyone learns in a comfortable and safe environment. A tutor also needs to be aware of when to disclose information to there line manager, or to statutory organisations. Often this could be because a learner has disclosed something that could be a risk to themselves or others. It is a tutor’s responsibility to make the learners aware of disclosure. I think that the best tutors are the ones that have passion about their subject and can motivate learners to achieve. A good tutor uses a variety of teaching styles in order to motivate and engage learners in the subject matter. Tutors also need to be able to evaluate peoples learning, this could be through questions, discussion or through making something or through an essay. The ability to evaluate is a key part of being a tutor – after all without evaluation a tutor wouldn’t know if a learner achieved their desired goals. Mike Wheeler 3rd February 2011