Level 3/4 Award in Preparing to teach in the Lifelong Learning sector / Section 4 Handout
Section 4: Understand how to deliver inclusive sessions which motivate learners
Handout: Section overview
Section summary
This section is about how to deliver inclusive sessions, and reflective practice.
Background information
When teaching, you need to create a good working relationship with your learners and it’s important to remain professional throughout and to retain their respect. You need to teach your subject in an interesting way, using a variety of methods to help keep your learners motivated —non verbal communication is as important as verbal communication. How you dress and act is part of your personality, however, you may not realise you have some mannerisms that impede upon learning. It’s useful to make a visual recording of yourself, to enable you to see any habits you have or aspects you could change.
When teaching, try and speak clearly, and a little louder and slower than normal, allowing time for your learners to ask questions. You might have to rephrase sentences if learners do not understand what you are saying. Always ask open questions to check learning, and use eye contact when speaking.
Teaching inclusively ensures you include all members of your group when teaching, for example with activities and questions. Try not to exclude anyone for any reason either directly or indirectly.
You need to give feedback to your learners regarding their progress. Always review progress on an ongoing basis, either by group discussions or one to one tutorials. When giving feedback to learners, always start with something positive, then move onto areas for development and try and finish on another positive note. This will ensure your learner hears everything you are saying. If you start with something negative, they may not hear anything else you say, even if this is subsequently positive. You may need to keep records of one to one tutorials and reviews. This is useful to show each learner’s development and achievements to date. You can also set new action points and target dates, formally recording this ensures everyone is clear about what has been achieved and what still needs to be done.
It’s also important to review your own progress, keeping a learning journal will help with this. When teaching, you are also learning about yourself. For example, how you react to different situations or learners, how patient you are, what skills you need to develop etc. You may realise you would like to take a course yourself, for example, to improve your computing or literacy skills.
Setting ground rules can help establish the boundaries for your group. You could do this as an activity during the first session after the icebreaker. Allowing the learners to agree their own ground rules means they take ownership of them. If a ground rule is subsequently broken, it’s usually the learners who will reprimand each other before you need to. Examples of ground rules include: arrive on time, respect others, return from breaks promptly and switch off mobile phones.
Self reflection is crucial for your own development. When you begin teaching, after each session, think about how it went, what was good, what you could do differently and what you could improve.
Continuing professional development (CPD) throughout your career will ensure you are up to date with the latest information regarding your subject. You could subscribe to relevant journals or magazines and look up suitable information on websites.
When teaching, follow a logical order: decide upon the topic to be delivered, produce a session plan with clear aims and objectives, obtain relevant resources, check the environment and equipment, rehearse your session and timings beforehand, remain confident and focused, deliver the session and evaluate yourself afterwards.
The process of self reflection and your own further development should then improve the quality of your teaching to your learners.
Relationship to the standards
This section contributes towards the knowledge and understanding required by LLUK’s Professional Standards for Teachers, Tutors, Trainers and Assessors in the Lifelong Learning Sector in England:
· BK1.2, BP1.2
· BK2.2, BP2.2
· EK4.1, EP4.1
· BK3.1, BP3.1, BK3.2, BP3.2
· BK2.6, BP2.6