Pttls_Theory_Assisgnment_a

Theory Assignment A – Ground Rules Analyse different ways in which you would establish ground rules with your learners, which would underpin behaviour and respect for others. Ground rules are boundaries that are set in order to create a safe environment for both learner and tutor. Establishing ground rules in teaching is like having a mutual agreed contract which everyone adheres to in order to have an effective environment in which to learn. Gravells (2010:31) agrees that establishing ground rules at the beginning of a course can avoid group disruption. There are many ways of establishing ground rules within a group, one quick way is to ‘tutor impose’ the rules for the course. This is a quick method if time is an issue and can be a more appropriate for certain subject areas such as cookery where ground rules are heavily involved in the health and safety issues for example, no smoking. These rules can be addressed quickly at the start of the course and then reinforced in subsequent lessons should need be. A downside to this method is the learners have not had the opportunity to discuss and agree the rules so therefore they could be abused, and not adhered to. Learners may feel like they would like to set their own ground rules a good way of doing this is by ‘ice beakers’, these are usually performed at the start of a course and can be done in many ways, such as post-it notes where learners write down what they expect of the tutor and each other, known as ‘Forming’. Tuckman 1965 maintained that the Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing phases are all necessary and inevitable in order for the group to grow, face up to challenges, tackle problems, find solutions, plan work, and deliver results. Ice breakers can help shy and nervous learners to relax and give them confidence to speak and ask questions in front of others. A downside to this is that this can be time consuming as some students may not agree at first but if a tutors flexible on terms of time keeping then this could be a positive and effective way of establishing and maintaining ground rules. By encouraging the learners to agree on setting their own ground rules this gives them a sense of ownership, responsibility and rapport building it also encourages aspects such as listening, compromise and respect for each other which in turn will encourage learning. References A Gravells (2010) Passing PTLLS Assessments Exeter, Learning Matter pg 31 http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm (date accessed 27/10/11) (Word Count 379)