Teaching_in_Ll_Sector

1 Module 4: A critical evaluation of what it means to be a teacher/trainer in my context within the lifelong learning sector. 30th November 2010 My area of expertise lies in catering, in which I gained my qualifications at Thanet College, from the college I took up various roles in the catering trade, I worked at Buckingham Palace, Balmoral castle, and The Café Royal London to name just a few. These different roles enabled me to improve my skills, knowledge, and advancement up the promotional ladder to take on more responsible duties, and trust. I now teach adult students with learning difficulties, and support them to become independent in the kitchen (as well as in the community) and to be able to produce a balanced diet. Many students have emotional issues and physical problems which can become a real barrier to their learning, therefore I tailor my lessons to suit there needs, inclusion is very important. Under the Equality and Diversity Act 2006 it is my responsibility that all students have inclusion in the classroom and in their education. My role requires me to explain things in simple terms so that the students can understand and relate to the lesson. I try to catch their attention with wit, visual, and colourful resources, so as to aid retention and embed information, and give them a successful learning experience. If a student comes into the classroom, and is distracted, they will not be able to concentrate, this is a regular occurrence within my department. In this situation, I tend to show empathy, and ask if the student would like some time out, or speak to someone ie, the other students at a minimum. Professionalism is a word best described as a collection of elements to which we all aspire. Thesaurus describes it as “the expertness characteristic of a professional person, skillful, possessing special knowledge.” Not to be judgmental and to use our skills to best project our abilities and skills along with professional behaviour expected for the role/job we hold. As a professional you should be registered with an organisation or body. This will help identify your specialism and show willingness. One such body in education is LLUK ( Lifelong Learning UK) who’s practice is underpinned by a set of professional values which are as follows: 1. All learners, their progress and development, their learning goals and aspiration and the experience they bring to their learning. 2. Learning, its potential to benefit people emotionally, intellectually, socially and economically, and its contribution to community sustainability. 3. Equality, diversity and inclusion in relation to learners, the workforce and the community. 4. Reflection and evaluation of their own practice and their continuing professional development as teachers. 5. Collaboration with other individuals, groups and /or organizations with a legitimate interest in the progress and development of learners. http://www.lluk.org/standards-and- qualifications [Accessed 22/11/10] In my teaching role as a professional, I have come to learn that not only am I a tutor but also a manager, an administrator, a counsellor and ambassador for the college to name but a few. As teachers we recognise that any learning is valued and that our approach is to encourage learners to improve their skills equally. The importance of the teacher is to provide a stimulating, interesting and understandable level for the students they teach. This ultimately leads on to improvement and gaining skills. Setting high standards improves the chances of students attaining their goals. For teachers standards are set to promote professional values, teaching, planning for teaching and learning so that all can access progression. Last year I became a member of the (Institute for Learning) IFL which is an independent body run by its members and set up to support teachers and trainers with their continuing professional development (CPD). Which is part of your ongoing commitment to improve your teaching. This means we should have the ability to look back on our practice and evaluate it. The IFL is a fledgling organisation set up in 2002 having adopted a five year strategy to provide benefits for the members, increased status for teachers and trainers and a voice for those practitioners that may influence policy and practice. I am working towards being a qualified teacher, and seek opportunities to learn more and develop my skill. My feelings are that I consider myself to be a professional by amassing my skills and being able to deliver that information to others in an interesting and diverse way. The IFL requires its members to use reflective practice to assess and evaluate ones self and improve our ability as a teacher/trainer and assist in advancing teaching by offering opportunities for networking, and by ensuring that all members are aware of policies and procedures. Being a member of these organisations means we all have a standard that we can adhere to and follow. Codes of practice used by the IFL are to: 1. Recognise that learners and learning are our core responsibilities, and act appropriately. 2. Recognise and respect the uniqueness of each individual. 3. Be honest clear and open in all communications, acting within integrity and fairness, and challenging discrimination 4. Contribute to the success of the college by actively seeking to develop innovative, effective, and efficient ways of achieving the college’s goals 5. Be informed about and fulfil our legal responsibilities 6 Challenge any abuse of privileged relationships, respecting and protecting confidentiality. 7. Ensure that our work conforms to external and internal quality standards 8. Request and use resources responsibly, efficiently and effectively (www.ifl.ac.uk/members_area/code_prof.html) [Accessed 22/11/10] As a professional, I need to reflect on my teaching ,I believe this to be very important as I need to ask myself what went well or not so well in the lesson and what could have been done to improve it. Thinking it was a good lesson or bad lesson is not enough, you need to know what made it a success or what made it poor and what can I change to improve it, there are many models that can help you to do this, one example of this is . Brookfield’s four lenses. Brookfield (1995,p.29 ) says that “when we embark on this journey, we have available four lenses through which we can view our teaching”, these lenses are (1) our autobiographies as teachers and learners , this puts us in the role of the other, and see our practice from the other side of the mirror. (2) our students eyes, seeing ourselves as students and making us aware actions and assumptions. (3) our Colleagues’ Experiences, by inviting colleagues to watch what we do. (4) Theoretical Literature, multiple interpretations of familiar but impenetrable situations . Schon (1983) model recognised three stages of reflective practice that seem to come quite naturally to me, I realised that the “Knowing in Practice, Reflection in Action, and Reflection on Action” theories he identified through professional practice are in fact used by myself daily. The knowing in action, is where the practical, everyday actions that we come to use so naturally are not given a second thought, this is the repetitive part of teaching, where I undertake a particular part of teaching so frequently, that it becomes an unconscious act. For example in every lesson we have in the kitchen I start by saying to the students “we are now going into the kitchen what do we need to do'” Reflection in action I believe is during the lesson, when delivering the subject is taking place. I am constantly checking that the students are on task, and asking myself do I need to adapt anything at a moments notice, am I running out of time, or finishing too early , I need to think quickly on my feet, but thanks to my years and experience in the catering trade this does come easy to me. A few weeks ago with my Train to Gain students, who cook for our retail outlet, the student café making cakes, biscuits, pizza etc, etc. I found myself running out of items to make as they had completed most of the tasks quicker than I had anticipated, so I went into the store cupboard and the fridge and got them to create something from nothing, in pairs and create a meal a bit like the can’t cook t.v. programme, I must admit this was a good learning curve for me and the students which I might do again. It stretches their culinary skills, plus the students loved this idea, but a lesson was learnt that day. Reflection on action comes after the lesson when you can think back as to what went well, or not so well and act upon it next time. This I did by adjusting my lesson plan. This took a few attempts as I needed to make the timings better, and make allowances for the students abilities, Other models of reflective practice are Gibbs (1998) Argyris and Kolb, I am at the stage now where I am leaning towards Kolb as well as Schon with his reflective theory of a four –stage cycle of activity: concrete experience, reflection, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation. Do it : You teach a lesson, perhaps the lesson is observed and so you can read the feedback Reflect on it : You think about what went well, what didn’t, what you and your students did and didn’t do. You think about the reason for this. Read the feedback. Identify what needs further attention. Read up on it : You go to the library, search the internet and intranet, speak to your tutors and your peers. Plan the next stage : Acquainted with the learning theory and suggested good practice you are able to plan how you will design and deliver your next teaching session. (Roffey-Barentsen and Malthouse, 2009, p CPD is a very useful tool, it helps us to reflect on ourselves, and being a reflective practitioner. We can take a look at what we are doing, what we have done, and identify areas of improvement, a good way of doing this is to use a SWAIN analysis, this will look at your strengths, weaknesses, aspirations, interests and needs, as this is in the best interest of the students and myself. It is also important to be critical when reflecting as this will help with my progress. At the moment I am looking to improve my teaching and have asked to be put onto a B.S.L. course,(British Sign Language) and to be booked onto the numeracy level 2 course which I will need If I wish to teach at the college, and i have just finished my safeguarding course, Within the Life and Works skills department in which I work, where there are a wide range of learning difficulties, ranging from Autism, Down Syndrome, poor motor skills Sight impairment, to speech, and many more besides. The students do not all learn in a uniform way, and digest their learning in different ways, all the students I teach use the Kinaesthetic / tactile learning method, and I need to accommodate them all. To promote inclusion and diversity I provide large text and symbols enabling the non readers to understand the lesson, simplified speech kept to a minimum to stop the students feeling overwhelmed with too much information. Clipart and Widget are used for the recipes and ingredients, a loop system used for one student with hearing problems, and signing as well as Makaton for the deaf or hard of hearing. In conclusion I would say that being a teacher/ trainer in the Lifelong Learning Sector is about being professional and making a real difference, supporting the students and helping them to succeed. If it can make a difference to their quality of life then I have achieved what I set out to do. I believe that every student has the right to learn what they want to learn irrespective of their disabilities. I look to improve my lessons with an interesting and enjoyable session, to support students aims and achievements. My aim is to prepare the student to live independently and safely throughout their lives. Bibliography. The Institute of Further Learning code of practice. Available at www.ifl.ac.uk/members_area/code_prof.ht [Accessed 22/11/10] Lifelong learning in the u k standards. Available at http://www.lluk.org/standards-and- qualifications [Accessed 22/11/10] Roffey-Barentsen,J & Malthouse,R. (2009) Reflective Practice in the Lifelong Learning Sector. Exeter:Learning Matters. Word count: 2060