‘Provide a short introduction to roles, responsibilities and relationships in lifelong learning for new entrants to your profession’ In this assignment I will explore the role, responsibilities and the building of relationships as a teacher of I. T. to adults in a college environment, a career which I am aspiring towards.
There are different aspects to consider when thinking of a tutor’s role and responsibilities, ranging from explicit legislative requirements and codes of practice which are set in place for you, to the professional duty you have to your students to ensure that they complete the course and do so in a healthy and safe environment. Firstly, let’s consider legislation and codes of practice.A legislative requirement can be defined as “A duty to act according to the law as defined in an Act of Parliament and usually enforceable through the courts. i Two important examples are: The Equality Act 2010 (October 1st)ii This replaced several anti-discrimination laws in order to bring them together under a single act.
Under this act, it is illegal to discriminate, harass, or victimise against a person based on a range of attributes including age, disability, marital status, race, religious belief, pregnancy, sex and sexual orientation. Anyone bringing legal action on two or more of these grounds can now do so in one action rather than having to make separate cases based on separate acts.The Data Protection Act 1998iii This act is particularly relevant to a teacher of I. T. It requires schools and colleges to take appropriate measures against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data, as well as to safeguard against accidental loss or destruction of personal data. The methods used by individual colleges and their tutors to enforce this act should be covered by their Codes of Practice.
Codes of Practice are different to legislative requirements, and can be defined as “A set of rules outlining how a person in a particular profession or situation is expected to behave. ”iv These are not legally binding in the same way as legislation, and are specific to the subject area you are teaching i. e. a Code of Practice for an I.
T. tutor would be different to one for an Auto Mechanic Tutor. A summary of a couple of examples of I. T.
Codes of Practice for colleges taken from the Telford and Wrekin council websitev are:1) Ensure good practice in respect of security of usernames and passwords of students, reminding them not to leave their computer logged on and unlocked when unattended, to make their passwords unique and not to disclose them to anyone. 2) Ensure good anti-virus software and appropriate firewalls are installed to prevent external attacks and data compromise. Promote flagging up by students if any distressing material has been accessed, or if they suspect an attack or virus etc.Further roles and responsibilities Promoting Equality and Valuing Diversity: Dictionary.
com defines equality and diversity as follows: Equality: “the state or quality of being equal” with ‘equal’ defined as “alike in value; of the same rank, merit. ”vi Diversity: “the state or fact of being diverse” with ‘diverse’ defined as “of various kinds or forms”vii In line with the various legislation and Codes of Practice, a tutor must take measures and make allowances to promote equality and ensure that diversity within the learner group is valued, rather than seen as a divisive barrier.All learners have the right to attend and participate, and so this must be stressed to the group by setting ground rules. Ground rules should be agreed upon mutually between you and your students, rather than simply laying down the law, in order for students to understand what is and isn’t acceptable from the outset. That way, students are essentially abiding by their own rules, rather than reluctantly adhering to rules set by you alone.
These rules may cover a wide range, from allowing students to have their say within the lesson without interruption from others, zero tolerance on physical aggression and agreeing not to use computers for personal internet use during lesson time, to good punctuality to ensure that lessons can start promptly, and supporting each other to achieve success as a group. All these rules help to promote equality and respect, both within the group, and also for you as tutor. Diversity and Discrimination Within any learning group there will inevitably be diversity, in aspects such as age, sex, race, religion, disability, political views and so on.This will mean a potential for discrimination to occur. Discrimination can take different forms: •Direct – Treating someone less favourably because they possess a protected characteristic.
•Indirect – when a rule or policy applies to all but disadvantages a person with a protected characteristic. •Associate – being treated less in favour due to an association with someone with a protected characteristic. •Perceptive – occurs when others believe you possess a protected characteristic. As a tutor, you have responsibilities on two fronts here.
Firstly, to make sure you do not unfairly discriminate in any way in your role as tutor towards any student(s) in your class. Secondly, to ensure students don’t discriminate against each other. As teacher, it is important to identify diversity and thus the potential for discrimination within your group. Students should be encouraged to flag up any negative experiences and as tutor you should address any instances that occur, immediately or on a one-to-one basis afterwards as appropriate.
Controversial views should not be ignored.Instead, promote positive discussion and challenge those views in order to educate. Ultimately, you do not necessarily have to change their views, but students should be made aware that they cannot interfere with the opportunity to learn of other students, thus promoting equality and the rights of everyone in the group to learn, regardless of social or political views. Prejudicial views and behaviour can be very disruptive and are just one example of the various barriers that can exist not only between students and their course completion, but also between tutors and students.Other Barriers for Learners Everybody has their own individual circumstances, and sometimes these can form barriers between students and their ability to compete a course.
A barrier could be anything from a lack of finances or access to a computer to a physical or mental disability or language barrier. In order to include students and promote equality, it is important to provide help wherever possible to ensure students with barriers can complete a course. This may be done either through your own measures or via referral to a third party.For example: 1) A student is partially sighted and finds it difficult to see small print/images. Here, this may be simply remedied by the tutor, by reserving a seat nearest to the whiteboard, and enlarging text size on their computer monitor and also on any printed material.
2) A student has financial problems and cannot afford the course fee and materials. Here, the tutor could refer the situation to Student Services who may be able to offer an instalment plan to spread the cost. Also, speak to other students in the group to see if they would be willing to share course resources. Once a problem is referred to a third party and accepted by them, the responsibility for the appropriate level of support is with that party.However, as tutor, you have a responsibility to track the progress of that support from time to time to ensure effective learning for your student.
Overall, there is an emphasis of importance for a tutor on awareness and vigilance. It is essential that legislation and Codes of Practice are kept up to date with, and that diversity within the group is identified and acted upon where appropriate in order to provide a safe, effective and inclusive learning experience for all your students. Problems and barriers should be dealt with as efficiently as possible in order to provide a level playing field and equality within the group.
