ONLINE TOPIC Legislation & Codes of Practice

This PowerPoint will support you in working through the requirements of Theory Assignment 2: ‘Identify the key aspects of current legislative requirements & codes of practice relevant to your subject and the type of organisation within which you would like to work ‘ Word count words

 What is the difference between a piece of legislation & a Code of Practice?  Spend a few minutes trying to decide on the differences and make a few notes before moving on to the next slide

‘Legislation’ refers to the laws governing all of us. In the United Kingdom we have three types of law:  Common law – not generally written down but has come into being historically i.e. we talk about ‘common law’ wives/husbands  Statute law – a law which comes into being through an Act of Parliament  European Union Laws Organisations, including educational establishments & tutors, must abide by these laws and make sure that their employees also abide by them in their role within the organisation.

A ‘Code of Practice’ is a set of regulations and guidelines devised by a trade, profession, occupation or organisation. Codes of Practice do not normally have the force of law. Perhaps the best known codes of practice include those of the General Medical Council that affects all doctors or of the Bar Council that affects solicitors/lawyers & barristers. Although they do not have the force of law, these codes of practice are very strong and generally mean that, if a member of the organisation breaks any of the rules, they will not be able to continue in their profession

As lecturers, we all need to become members of the IfL which has developed its own code of practice for its members. This code of professional practice covers six main areas:  Integrity  Respect  Care  Practice  Disclosure  Responsibility The full code is available at standards/code-of-professional-practice and you should ensure that you are familiar with its regulations. standards/code-of-professional-practice

You will now need to spend some time thinking about the different legislation that affects all lecturers. Make a list of as many pieces of legislation you can think of that would affect lecturers regardless of the subject they teach. When you have done this, move on to the next slide

Your list here might include legislation such as: Health & Safety Child Protection/Safeguarding Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Equal Opportunities Discrimination Legislation Data Protection Copyright & Patents Act For the assignment, you will need to choose a number of these pieces of legislation that you consider most important to lecturers & decide how they affect us in our role. You should be able to research this through the Internet.

In addition to the generic legislation, different curriculum areas may have specific legislation that affects them e.g. legislation that affects the movement of animals, legislation that affects taking learners on visits. Spend some time now trying to identify any pieces of legislation that apply specifically to your curriculum area. Again, you will need to identify how they affect you as a tutor. You might find it useful here to speak to more experienced colleagues or to your line manager

We have already identified that all tutors are affected by the IfL code of practice. Can you think of any other generic codes of practice that might affect you? Are you affected by any codes of practice specific to your curriculum area or profession? Again, try to note down some examples before moving to the next slide.

You may well have been able to identify codes of practice specific to your curriculum area or profession – many professional bodies, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the International Institute of Reflexologists have their own codes. Generic codes may have been a little more difficult to identify but you may have remembered that Every Person Matters is a code that affects all teachers in any situation

Beginning as Every Child Matters, this set of reforms, supported by the Children Act 2004, was brought in following Victoria Climbie case. Its aim is for every child, whatever their background or circumstances, to have the support they need to:  be healthy  stay safe  enjoy and achieve  make a positive contribution  achieve economic well-being. These aims have now widened to encompass all learners, Every Person Matters, and many Lifelong Learning organisations now include reference to these aims in their documentation & session plans requiring tutors to show how they are including these aims in their teaching practice. More general information can be found at

 You should now have sufficient information from this PowerPoint and your own notes to begin Theory Assignment 2.  However, the word limit for this assignment is very tight so the following slides contain suggestions for how you might approach the assignment. These are suggestions and are not prescriptive – if you prefer to tackle the assignment in a different format and can still keep within the word limit ( words +/- 10%) please feel free to do so

Because of the tight word limit, some candidates have found it easier to set this assignment out in either table or chart form – remember, you need to outline the key aspects of each Act or Code of Practice for you as a tutor NOT just list them. Obviously, you will need to consider the legislation & codes of practice you have identified and choose only the most relevant for your assignment but you should include examples of both generic (i.e. applicable to all tutors/lecturers) and subject specific legislation & codes where they exist. If you choose this approach your table or chart can be either handwritten or computer generated. The next two slides show examples of the types of chart or table you might use.

Act:Key aspects for tutors: e.g. Health & Safety Act Key aspects here could include comments about appropriate behaviour, classroom layout etc. etc. Code of Practice:Key aspects: e.g. Institute for Learning (IfL) Code of Practice This code contains six key aspects (integrity, respect, care, practice, disclosure & responsibility) all of which affect tutors

Health & Safety: Key aspects LEGISLATION & CODES OF PRACTICE IfL Code of Practice: Key aspects LegislationCodes of Practice

If anything in the PowerPoint is not clear or you would like to discuss any of the points further before working on your assignment, please feel free to contact me: Barbara Hately-Broad (Please note that I am not available on Mondays or Fridays)