All students differ and have different tolerances when it comes to behaviour and respect for others, therefore establishing ground rules is essential for a good learning environment which in turn will give pupils the right to work and learn. There are a number of basic ground rules and ways to implement them, which can be adjusted to suit the age and behaviour of the learners in a working environment.
Group discussion of expectations and incorporating everybody’s views ensure that all students feel heard and included.When working with younger students asking them to get involved and discuss their ideas of ground rules increases their interest, motivation and learning which then can be made into a class contract signed by the students. This way of establishing ground rules is meaningful and can be revisited if ground rules are broken. Making a poster with the ground rules that you’ve disused with students is another good idea because it is a visual reminder of the ground rules that you have agreed.
Being clear on expectations and ground rules are an essential part of establishing respect and behaviour. My own ground rules would incorporate being fully prepared for lessons and ensuring I keep good time for classes to start and finish promptly. Adult learners are normally keen and motivated to learn they often attend classes in their own time to enhance their job or for personal benefits.Usually adult learners are not afraid to make mistakes. Ground rules could be quite simple for adult learns for example arriving on time, switching their mobile phones off.
The main problem with tutor-set rules is that the students may not fully buy into them, especially if they see no benefit to themselves. This can lead to poor behaviour and a lack of respect for others in the class if some students are not seen to be “obeying the rules”.Rules set by students are usually the ones that will be bought in to by the entire class as the goal of the continuous improvement classroom is to empower students to take responsibility, accountability and ownership for their own learning.One way to do that is to facilitate the process of students creating ground rules for the classroom in which they learn and that the following should be taken into consideration: warmth, (the room temperature needs to be right), food, (the learners will struggle to learn and work on an empty stomach), and safety as the learners need to feel safe in the environment that they are learning in. All learners need rules and boundaries to establish appropriate behaviour and to underpin respect for the diversity of the learners. Ground rules should be established before any teaching commences.
The rules established will apply to the tutor as well as to the learners.
