certain areas of a building, resources and/or equipment
• a fear of using new technology
• a lack of money to purchase items which your employer does not supply, e.g. specialist clothing
• family and home commitments
• limited language and numerical skills
• transport issues preventing you from arriving on time.
Others could relate to professional challenges, such as:
• a lack of learner motivation or interest
• a lack of resources and equipment
• a lack of time to adequately plan and prepare sessions
• learner absenteeism
• limited knowledge of the subject you have been asked to teach
• poor learner behaviour
• pressure from managers to achieve targets
• too many meetings to attend
• too much administration work to carry out
• unsupportive colleagues.
You might have colleagues who have experienced the same challenges as yourself and you may find it useful to talk to them. You could find out what support is available within your organisation.
Example
Saira was apprehensive about teaching a group of 25 learners, aged 16–19. She had only taught groups of adults before. Saira approached William, her line manager, for some advice. William had been teaching that age group for many years. He was able to give Saira lots of useful information, particularly relating to behaviour and motivation. Saira was pleased she had approached him. She had thought at first that he would have expected her to have known what to do. However, he proved really helpful and said he would sit in during some of her sessions to give her advice and support if she needed it.
Never think you are on your own; if you are experiencing a challenge, it’s highly likely someone else has too.
Activity
Make a list of personal and professional challenges you feel you might encounter throughout your teaching role. How might you be able to overcome them? Will you need to involve anyone else? If so, who could help you and how will you go about contacting them?
Disruptions
To get through a session without any disruptions would be wonderful, but this very rarely happens. You might have a learner who arrives late, an inquisitive learner who always wants to know more, or just someone asking to leave the room to go to the toilet. Whatever the disruption might be, you need to handle this professionally to minimise any effect it might have on teaching and learning.
Usually, disruptions occur because people don’t follow the ground rules, for example, their mobile phone rings, they decide to eat or drink, or 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. Other occurrences happen because people are either bored, they don’t understand what you are saying or you are not challenging them enough. Could you give them an alternative activity to stretch their learning further? Ideally, it’s best not to ignore the disruption but address it immediately.
The late arrival learner
A learner might arrive late for many reasons which might not necessarily be deliberate. Depending upon what is happening at the time, they might take their place quietly or draw attention to themselves by apologising in front of everyone. You could welcome them to the session and give them a quick recap of what is happening. Alternatively, you could tell them you will give them an update regarding what they have missed at an appropriate point during the session.
If a learner is repeatedly late, you will need to find out why to see if it can be prevented. If not, the situation will disrupt the attention of everyone in the group and may make others feel that they shouldn’t bother arriving on time either.
The over-enthusiastic learner
Sometimes, a learner can be over-enthusiastic which could have an adverse effect upon the rest of the learners. For example, they interrupt by asking too many questions, they like to tell everyone what they know or they become over-excited or even aggressive. Try not to lose patience with them, you might even find other learners ask them to quieten down before you do. Ways to deal with this situation include:
• moving around the room so that you do not directly face the learner all the time
• holding your hand up in a ‘stop’ sign when they interrupt you, and then asking them to wait until an appropriate time before speaking
• involving other learners, perhaps by saying ‘I appreciate what you are saying; now let’s hear from someone else’
• using group work and activities where they must work with and listen to others.
Extension activity
Make a list of possible disruptions which you might encounter with your learners. Discuss these with a colleague and decide how you could deal with them in an effective way.
Learning preferences and styles
Most people learn in different ways and have a preference or a style to help them acquire new skills and knowledge and to remember things. Some people prefer the term preference to styles so as not to categorise a learner. Adults might have developed a preference or style from childhood learning patterns or their experiences of growing up and of working. What suits one learner might not suit another. For example, if a group of people were learning yoga, some might like to watch and listen to the teacher first. Others might want to practise the movements at the same time as the teacher.
All people learn differently, perhaps influenced by experiences in their childhood, school, personal or professional relationships. When you learn something new, you will probably adapt, change or modify your behaviour as a result, and the same will apply with your learners.
Your own experiences of how you learn might influence what you do with your learners. You might deliver your sessions in the style which suits you, but it might not suit your learners. For example, if you like to learn by listening to others, you might want to talk to your learners for most of your session. However, they might not all remain focused or take in what you say. If you can find out what your learners’ current preferences are, then you can adapt your teaching approaches to suit.
There are critics of learning styles. In 2004, Professor Frank Coffield and three colleagues carried out a systematic and critical review of learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning. The report reviewed the literature on learning styles and examined in detail 13 of the most influential models. The implications for teaching and learning, he states, are serious and should be of concern. Coffield has since written widely on the subject and states ... it was not sufficient to pay attention to individual differences in learners,
