As an Osteopath, I abide by the statutory regulations of my profession meaning the duty to act according to the law, defined by an Act of Parliament. This law ensures all Osteopaths are registered, enforceable through the courts together with our Code of Practice; a set of rules outlining how an Osteopath is expected to behave in relation to a particular situation by the General Osteopathic Council. Two acts of particular significance when considering teaching in the classroom or the student clinic are health and safety and disability discrimination.1. Health and Safety (H&S): An Act that is in place to minimize/limit risk and assure the health, safety and wellbeing of students, staff, patients and the general public.
The classroom and clinic premises equally must be clean, safe, hygienic, comfortable and appropriately equipped. The environment must be conducive to use and demonstration of osteopathic techniques. The law lays down detailed requirements for health and safety (www.legislation.gov.uk) in the workplace.
The Osteopath/Teacher must ensure appropriate procedures are in place to cope in the event of an accident, medical emergency and avoid any negligent act. The official government site is regularly updated and the most current place to gather information from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE): (www.hse.gov.uk).2.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requires service providers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled people in the way they provide their services. The Act sets out possible options for service providers: removing, altering or avoiding a physical feature of their premises that makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to use the service; or providing home visits. This act relates to Osteopathic Medicine in terms of the facilities provided in clinic to accommodate for disability but is equally relevant in the classroom when accommodating for blind, deaf, physical or learning disabled.It is of critical importance that the teacher integrates learning strategies, methods and assessments to assure the ‘disabled’ learner is in no way disadvantaged. Thus, far I have accommodated for a blind learner, a deaf learner and an array of learning disabilities though making alternate test provisions, allowing for more time, using colored paper handouts as well as liaised with a needs assessment officer.
Equality is about the rights of the students to have access to, attend and participate in their learning experience, regardless of ability and or circumstances. Diversity is about valuing and respecting the differences in students, regardless of their ability and/or circumstances, or any other individual characteristics they may have (Gravells, 2012). It is the responsibility of every Osteopath to act in ways that support equality and diversity in relation to everyone the osteopath interacts with; users of services including learners, patients, practitioners, work colleagues, employees and people in other organisations as well as the public in general. Further details of the Equality Act of 2010 can be found at.
I strive to promote equality and value diversity in the classroom through understanding and being responsive to learner needs. I ensure inclusivity of the nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, maternity and pregnancy (Gravells, 2012). I use directed questioning, drawing out the quieter students, group work reflection and accommodate for students across a diverse range of levels through careful lesson planning and presentation.I model professionalism assuring that discussions do not involve discrimination, stereotyping or prejudice. We, recognise diversity through sharing cultural approaches to osteopathic practice with respect for all in the class. Communication is another area that directly relates to promoting equality, by treating learners fairly and equally.
I track on the student profile those who need more verbal reinforcement and those who need advanced cognitive activity to maintain interest. In group discussion I strive to take everyone’s view into account.Maintaining professional and personal boundaries is a central to the osteopathic practice standards and also must be considered in terms of a teachers’ duty of care. Professionalism requires us to maintain appropriate standards and fulfill our responsibilities to learners, institutions and colleagues (Francis and Gould, 2009).
Knowing the boundaries of the teachers’ role is essential to an effective learning environment (Wilson, 2009). Professional boundaries relate to defining expectations, knowing in what situation advice can be given but equally recognizing an issue and referring appropriately.Boundaries are set with learners in terms of classroom behaviour, respect and assignments. If boundaries are not maintained and acted on, it can negatively impact communication, classroom atmosphere, learner-teacher relationship and ultimately the institution. A resource in this matter is the Institute for Learning's (IfL) Code of Practice (2008) accessible at (www.
ifl.ac.uk) which outlines the behaviours expected of teachers in the Lifelong Sector, similar to the Osteopathic code of Practice which references the expected behaviours and boundaries within osteopathic teaching. Personal boundaries can become muddied due to transference and counter transference, a learner may view the teacher in another role of parent, sibling or other.The teacher must be alert and aware of the learners’ behavior positive and negative and always consider the best interest of the learner.
It is important for the osteopathic teacher to treat all students equally, and not disclose personal information, socialize with students, as well as avoiding one to one circumstances that could place the learner or teacher at risk.Learner needs must first be identified before considering referral. With the use of the student profile and lesson plan learner needs can be assessed. Maslow introduced a hierarchy of needs in 1954 (Francis and Gould, 2009) that would enable achievement and that ‘the highest level of satisfaction and contentment as self actualisation’ (Mitra, 2013). Figure 1 below shows Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs which represents levels in education and life enables, growth, well-being and satisfaction. As a teacher we can support the student from the physiological through to self actualisation through support for their learning, growth and success.
The teacher must recognise when an ‘issue discussed is beyond the… knowledge, experience, accountability, or responsibility’ of the teacher then a referral to ‘mentor, manager or student service department’ may be required (Wilson, 2009). The internal support services range from student services, counseling, tutoring, financial support to dyslexia support. Externally a referral could be made to Samaritans, Drugs line, Citizens Advice Bureau, Shelter line, Child line for example. In short placing the health, well-being, security and safety of the student upmost in our minds with drive appropriate knowledge based decision making that serves the best interest of the learner.
