Describe_What_Your_Role,_Responsibilities_and_Boundaries_Would_Be_as_a_Teacher_in_Terms_of_the_Teacher_Training_Cycle.

Assignment 1; Describe what your role, responsibilities and boundaries would be as a teacher in terms of the teacher/training cycle. Role, responsibilities and boundaries are evolving qualities within the teacher, which are assessed and reflected upon using the teaching/training cycle; a cycle of identifying the needs of the learners, planning the scheme of work, designing, through the use of resources, presentations, handouts and activities, facilitating, assessing and evaluating. The main role of the teacher is to facilitate communication in such a way that all students are encouraged to enter into a wider debate surrounding the course they have chosen, learning should be fun, enjoyable as well as challenging. To ensure sessions’ aims and objectives are meaningful and applicable to students the teaching role incorporates ongoing administration, planning, preparation and assessment of the learners and evaluating the teaching sessions, oneself and ones delivery. Assessing varying learning styles within a group and considering learner’s motivations and previous experiences helps identify various teaching methods that could be useful throughout the course. Sessions incorporating visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles ensures students have equal rights to learning and provide the opportunity to re-evaluate what is already known while exploring aims and objectives from a different perspective. I teach catering and hospitality classes where motivations and previous experience constantly change as new techniques, health and safety and food regulations emerge. My role is to create a safe, caring learning environment to establish open and trusting relationships, facilitating respect between teacher and students and respect for each other. Recording changes by completing relevant admin ensures records are up to date in order to evaluate changes to forthcoming aims and objectives. The main responsibility of the teacher is to continually reassess development and change during the course and create a seamless transition to ensure smooth delivery. As students develop better understanding of aims and objectives their needs change and this must be reflected in continual reassessment. It is the teachers’ responsibility to monitor, evaluate and improve the quality and effectiveness of their delivery by taking into account learners changing needs. Course structure and its coherent delivery are responsibilities, which require adaptation, and flexibility to reflect newly identified needs as seen in the teaching/training cycle. In cookery classes, learners are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. My responsibility is to encourage progressive reflection in students to allow their personal growth and development to be useful to their lives and future chosen career path, while undertaking my own continued professional development to keep ahead of all new developments within the catering industry and course accrediting bodies to provide the students with the most up to date skills required by the industry. Progressive reflection sheets and continued practical sessions form the core assessment of the course culminating in an end of course interview. This interview allows the student to demonstrate their development of understanding in a meaningful way. Discussion and presentation of a portfolio provides the opportunity to identify changing needs and re-evaluate the structure and delivery of the course. The need to maintain a professional relationship with learners, following organisational protocols and codes of practice, boundaries ground our ethics; they are core to recognising our limitations and realising when changes may be needed. Being open to change and incorporating others’ input involves recognising when boundaries must be revisited. Obvious boundaries such as the appropriateness of the teacher/learner relationship and disciplinary lines for misconduct are strong ethical issues that are at the core of every teacher. Understanding when a student requires further help beyond your remit is a boundary that should be effectively utilised. A teacher must be able to recognise when additional help is required to further the learning experience and to whom to refer for a positive outcome. In cookery classes boundaries are revisited through reflection upon sessions as well as looking at the overall effectiveness of the course. It is essential that all voices are equally heard and explored without having teaching opinion that is imposed upon the course. My passion for the catering and hospitality industry fuels my enthusiastic delivery of the course encouraging healthy debate and open communication, promoting cohesive team work, developing highly skilled technical abilities and a high standard of self discipline and humility that is required by a service industry that stands or falls on the quality and training of its employees, but should not impose a to rigid structure and delivery that makes learning difficult. The teaching/training cycle provides a cohesive structure within which roles, responsibilities and boundaries can be assessed and reflected upon. The structure of the cycle is such that a balanced teacher will multitask stages in a constantly evolving way. This ensures that teacher and students’ reflective growth of role, responsibilities and boundaries remains core to reaching a greater understanding of the aims and objectives relating to development with the course. References: Maslow’s (1954) ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ Institute for Learning, ‘The Code of Professional Practice’ Black and Wiliam, ‘Inside the Black Box’ Kolb, ‘Learning Cycle’ Assessment 1;