PREPARING TO TEACH IN THE LIFELONG LEARNING SECTOR (PTLLS) ON-LINE TOPIC GROUND RULES

WHY GROUND RULES? Negotiating ground rules with your learners will help identify and reinforce appropriate behaviour & respect during their time on courses. Ground rules should always be negotiated with your learners rather than imposed on them to encourage them to take ownership of the rules and follow them. Although you should negotiate them at the start of a programme they can be revisited during the course and revised or supplemented as necessary Ground rules do not need to include behaviours that form part of college rules or general legislation e.g. you do not need to have ‘no smoking in class’ as a ground rule.

DEVISING GROUND RULES As stated before, this needs to be a collaborative process You might divide your learners into small groups and ask each group to come up with 5 ground rules for their group. Ideas can then be shared & the whole class can vote on the rules they want to implement. This process will also support the development of discussion and speaking & listening skills within your class together with collaboration If you feel it would be more appropriate for your group, you could refer to a ‘group contract’ rather than ‘ground rules’.

ENCOURAGING INCLUSIVITY During this activity, you may feel that your learners have missed out issues that you think are important. You will need to devise a strategy to encourage the group to consider (& possibly include) these areas e.g. racial tolerance. Remember, your learners need to feel they have ownership of the rules so you can’t just include areas because you feel they should be there. Spend a few minutes considering strategies for this before you move on to the next slide.

ENCOURAGING INCLUSIVITY (2) There are many ways to encourage your learners to consider areas they may not have already thought of & everyone may have their own favourite. One possibility is to present your learners with a number of case studies of examples – What would you do if? Are there any other ground rules you might want to add to cover this situation?

WHAT NEXT? Once the group has agreed an appropriate number of rules, you might then take the rough copy and produce a final version Keeping the ground rules visible can help to remind learners what is/is not acceptable. You could consider having a large laminated copy of the rules made to display in your classroom. In this way, if a learner breaks one of the rules, you can direct their attention to the appropriate rule In addition, it is often helpful to provide each learner with a personal copy of the rules, get them to sign them & make a photocopy for your files. In this way, you have clear evidence that the learners have agreed & ‘signed up’ to the rules.

BROKEN RULES What would you do if a learner broke the agreed rules? As has already been suggested, if you have a display copy of the rules in your classroom, you can easily remind them of the requirements. If the group has agreed and taken ownership of the rules, you may find that you don’t actually have to do anything because their peers will reprimand them first. You could also negotiate with the group possible penalties for breaking the rules. Although you will need to negotiate your own strategy here depending on the age & maturity of your groups, you could consider minor ‘charges’ for broken rules to be paid into a group fund and used at the end of the course. Alternatively, you could consider a wall chart showing transgressions - it is likely that some learners/groups may object to this second strategy and important that everyone agrees to whatever strategy you devise.

REINFORCING GOOD BEHAVIOUR Remember, ground rules can be used to reinforce good behaviour as well as enforce it. If a particular area of behaviour has been problematic, remember to congratulate and thank your learners if a session is completed with the behaviour occurring. As with all feedback, this needs to be specific – it’s not enough just to congratulate your group(or particular individuals) on behaving well, you need to specify e.g. Thank you all for arriving promptly today, because of that we’re now able to finish five minutes early.

GROUND RULES FOR EVERYONE Remember, you should be modelling good behaviour here and should be bound by the rules too. e.g. If one of your rules relates to attending class on time, then you need to make sure that you are there, ready to teach at the stated time. If the group has a ground rule banning swearing, then make sure you don’t.

ADDITONAL RESOURCES 8W_RcL6bc4 8W_RcL6bc4 qmgga4 (this one deals with primary age children but the underpinning principles still apply) qmgga4 k3E1to&feature=related k3E1to&feature=related

THEORY ASSIGNMENT 4 Explain the ways in which you would establish ground rules with your learners and which underpin behaviour and respect for others Word count words

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO In this assignment, the focus is on explaining what you would actually do in class. Although you should start with an introductory paragraph explaining what ground rules are and why they are important, the bulk of the assignment should focus on the actual activity you would undertake to establish the rules. HOW would you do it? You should also consider what you would do if the learners did not include issues that you feel are important such as equality & inclusivity e.g. racism, sexism, ageism.