Assignment 1 – Theory Question 4
Karen Howard
_“Analyse different ways in which you would establish ground rules with your learners, which underpin behaviour and respect for others.”_
Ground rules may be set by:
Organisations1
External organisations
Tutor1
Students1
Combination of any or all of these methods
1Ann Gravells (2008)
Rules set by an organisation, either internal or external, are usually ones that cannot be changed or disputed. They can be presented to the students as a list in class or before the course. These rules have to be accepted by the students however it may be difficult to get them to agree to some of the rules if the students do not seany benefit in the rules. To get the students to agree to these kindof rules, they should be discussed in class so that students can see the benefit to the class as a whole and understand the reasons behind these rules. Examples of these rules could be:
All evening courses must finish on time so that the building can be locked up
“A_ll references will be made using the Harvard referencing system_” City & Guilds 2009
Rules set by the tutor can be very relevant and perceptive, being based on previous experience or prior knowledge of the course being taught. 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.
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._
Establishing Ground Rules is one of the first...