teacher. It is unprofessional to use unsuitable language, to touch learners in an inappropriate way, or to let your personal problems affect your work.
Examples of being unprofessional can include (in alphabetical order):
• abusing your power over others
• acting as a confidant to a learner who has personal problems
• asking to borrow money from learners
• becoming overfriendly, in person or online
• becoming personally involved with a learner
• giving a learner undue attention
• giving or administering medicine, unless you are a medical professional
• giving gifts or lending money to learners
• hugging learners
• meeting learners outside of the teaching environment
• offering to give learners a lift in your car; you might not be covered by insurance in the event of an accident
• sharing information about learners to third parties who do not have a legitimate interest
• sharing personal problems with learners
• swearing or using inappropriate language in front of learners
• thinking of yourself instead of your learners
• violating your duty of care and position of trust.
There might be situations where you will need to ensure you are not placed in a vulnerable position: for example, by leaving the room door open if you are alone with a young learner. You will also need to inform your learners if they overstep your boundaries, perhaps if an individual asks you to go for a drink with them after class.
Extension activity
Look at the previous bullet list regarding being unprofessional, and see if there is anything else you could add. How do you feel you can protect yourself from becoming vulnerable in your role? How can you ensure that you remain professional at all times?
Promoting appropriate behaviour and respect
Behaviour is all about how you and your learners interact with each other in an acceptable way. Respect is about accepting others for what they are, not being rude to them, or lowering their confidence and self-esteem in any way. Depending upon the age range of your learners, the subject and the environment in which you will teach, you might encounter issues which you will need to deal with immediately. However, it’s not just about being reactive to a situation. You need to be proactive and promote appropriate behaviour and respect whenever possible, to stop issues arising in the first place.
Example
Katherine noticed one of her learners, Alexis, became disruptive when she commenced the debrief after a group activity. She decided to change the format by asking a learner from each group to state how they worked as a team. She asked Alexis to be the first one and he didn’t know what to say. Katherine then asked another learner who responded well. As the learners were leaving at the end of the session, Katherine overhead Alexis say to another learner that he had felt embarrassed in front of his friends. He was much quieter in future sessions and paid better attention.
Your organisation should have a behaviour code of practice or a policy, which you might like to take a look at. Having ground rules in place could help avoid any issues. Ground rules, such as not speaking when someone else is speaking, can help to create suitable conditions within which learners (and yourself) can safely work and learn (covered in Chapter 4).
Being a role model for good behaviour might encourage the same from your learners. This can include being polite, showing respect and saying please and thank you. Welcoming learners to your session when they arrive, with a smile on your face, can give a good impression. Some teachers like to stand at the door as their learners enter. This gives an air of authority, and shows the teacher is in control. Some teachers like to shake hands with each learner as they arrive, to say hello and state the learner’s name. This is a little more informal, but still shows the teacher is in control and that they know each learner’s name. This might be better than being occupied inside the room and ignoring the learners as they arrive.
It would be wonderful if you could get through a session without any issues arising. Usually, behaviour issues occur because a learner doesn’t follow the ground rules, for example, their mobile phone rings, or they do something other than that which you have asked them to do. If this is the case, politely ask them to stop, remind them of the ground rules, and how they are also disrupting their peers’ learning. Your learners need to know what is acceptable, what isn’t, and why.
Behaviour issues could occur because learners:
• are bored
• are not being stretched or challenged enough
• are seeking attention
• don’t understand what you are saying are doing
• have a learning difficulty and/or disability
• have an attention span which is different to other learners.
Behaviour patterns could highlight the need for additional support as disruption could be a way of asking for help. A way of dealing with a situation is to tactfully say to the learner, ‘I notice you are not paying attention/are being disruptive, is there any reason for that?’ They might not have anything to say, and will hopefully then focus on the session. However, there might be a valid reason, in which case you can tell your learner you will have a chat with them in confidence later. Alternatively, you could redirect them in some way to focus them on the current task.
Example
Phil has a group of 24 learners and one particular learner, Mike, often disrupts the session. During one session, Mike shouted across the room to another learner ‘What did you watch on TV last night?’ The other learner did not respond and so Mike shouted again. Phil went over to Mike and asked ‘What about this task you are working on, how far have you got? Phil had redirected the situation to be about the work, not the shouting.
In this example, Phil was able to help Mike focus on the task rather than interrupting his peers.
You may find it useful to maintain a record of the individual behaviour of your learners during your sessions. This could help you prepare for future incidents: for example, noting a particular learner who becomes disruptive after a certain time period has elapsed, or another who becomes annoyed when asked to carry out a theory task. This information can be useful when planning future sessions: for example, the timing of breaks, the use of energiser activities, or planning who will work with whom for a paired activity.
Ways to demonstrate and promote positive behaviour and respect include (in alphabetical order):
• admitting to your mistakes rather than bluffing your way out of them
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