George Churchill PGCE Year 2

EPF 304 (1)

Consider how government priorities, including regulation

and inspection, have attempted to improve teaching and
learning experiences in the education and training sector.

Word Count: 1124

Page 1
George Churchill PGCE Year 2

As a teacher it is important for me to be multi-faceted, to adapt to ever changing

circumstances, adopting multitude roles of in my lessons and making sure I am up to date

with all present ideas and frameworks. Government priorities, including regulation and

inspection can often change or be reviewed, and it is my responsibility to be aware of

these to enable me to fulfil my role as a teacher. In my role I support learners with autism

and aspergers (ASC), who have very diverse needs and wide ranging learning styles that I

need to cater for. If students are left to their own devices it is common for blind learning to

occur or for their work to be misunderstood (Petty, 2009; pg. 301). It is my responsibility to

be fully aware of the many learning styles my learners have and find a balance of visual,

aural, read/write and kinaesthetic (VARK) to help progress their work. Government

priorities can often change and draw upon evidence based work to help teaching practice.

Reece and Walker (2007) described the modern teacher as a facilitator, a person who

assists students to learn for themselves. Granville (2011) listed 5 stages of the teacher/

training cycle as;

1. Identifying needs

2. Planning

3. Facilitating

4. Assessing

5. Evaluating

Although the five stages of teaching previously set out have now been amended, they are

still essential to a teacher’s role and have merely been summarised and further skills and

requirements have been enforced. In May 2014 The Education and Training Foundation
Page 2
George Churchill PGCE Year 2
released the document ‘Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education

and Training – England’. This document was a result of a government commissioned

review to replace the standards set in 2007 by Lifelong Learning UK, summarising the

professional standards to provide a framework for teachers and trainers.

They all interlock with each other and rather than have 150 standards as set by LLUK

(2007), there are now 20 standards summarised onto one page (2014). These are

separated into three headings;

1. Professional Skills

2. Professional Values and Attributes

3. Professional Knowledge and Understanding

The 2014 standards set out to be more clear and effective while also enabling teachers to

identify areas of professional development to improve expertise and skills in their area to

ensure the best outcome for their learners. Teachers are being encouraged to develop

their own judgement of what works and does not work and to have more critically informed

knowledge and understanding in theory and practice. I always look for areas of

improvement that could benefit my role and my CPD is of importance. The main area this

document encourages is joint productive development, working alongside our peers to

form an action research. For us to follow the equality and diversity act (2010) and

safeguard our learners in a positive environment it is solely the responsibility of the teacher

to draw on their own practice, assess their learners and implement a plan of action to

enforce their ideas of what works best and benefits their learners as individuals.

Page 3
George Churchill PGCE Year 2
In 2011 Ofsted released the document ‘Safeguarding in Schools, Best Practice’ (based on

evident inspections) to help highlight the most effective ways of reducing incidents and

improving practice and how to follow protocol when dealing with any safeguarding issues.

Safeguarding is defined as protection from harm and damage with appropriate measures

and freedom of human rights, setting a framework to prevent exploitation. This applies to

none more so than you, the teacher/trainer. It is your responsibility to identify safeguarding

concerns and act upon them but you are also responsible to yourself, whether it be acting

upon something you witness or protecting yourself from any discrepancies. A teacher

must put boundaries and rules in place that are within reason to protect from anything

ranging from social media, personal relationships and accidents. There are plenty of ways

to protect yourself and the learners such as privatising your social networking sites,

mentoring and tutoring on site, being up to date on policies and attending relevant training.

Teachers also need to take into account the individual needs of their learners to ensure

equality and diversity. There are a huge range of attributes that need considering when

delivering your teaching effectively such as gender, race, learning styles and social class

and it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure the content of work being delivered and

taught are adaptable, fair and non-discriminatory. Areas of equality a teacher must ensure

accommodates each individual include planning effectively, delivering, being diverse,

providing resources and implementing additional support any learners may require.

Prejudice and stereotyping can and will happen in any teaching environment and must be

challenged fairly to guarantee equal learning regardless of cultural differences, traditions

and backgrounds. Teachers should not lose sight of the fact they are shaping long term

life chances and identities on top of reaching targets (Pollard et al, 2008; Pg. 107) and are

hugely influential in delivering on this.

Page 4
George Churchill PGCE Year 2
The most important responsibility of my role as a support worker is the safeguarding of

vulnerable individuals in my care. The society I work for has its own safeguarding policy,

in line with the Ofsted document and outlines three key principles;

1. Prevention (positive environment, careful and vigilant working, necessary support and

being a good role model, do what is right not what is easiest)

2. protection (follow agreed procedures, ensuring staff are trained and supported to

respond appropriately and sensitively to concerns)

3. support (confidential and non-judgemental support to victims of abuse)

It is everyones responsibility as a support worker to make each other aware of what

constitutes abuse and to have zero tolerance towards abuse to safeguard both staff and

service users. Our society follows the the safeguarding best practice (2011) by making

sure safeguarding and alerter training has taken place and using scenarios, question and

answer assessment techniques in appraisals and training weeks for learning checks and

how to follow the disciplinary policies and procedures if safeguarding issues need raising.

It is also important in an age of developing technology and rapidly rising online networking

to follow the societies Photographing and Digital image policy and be responsible with

online media. Staff need to be aware their responsibilities do not just apply to their day job

and that making online profiles private if possible and be professional when using mobile

phones with cameras at work. By knowing these policies and following government

documents such as FELTAG, it can enable us as teachers to promote technology and

channel it into a positive learning experience in a safe environment where both the learner

and staff member are protected from harm.

Page 5
George Churchill PGCE Year 2
References

Avis, James, Roy Fisher, and Ron Thompson. Teaching In Lifelong Learning. Maidenhead:

McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Print.

Humphreys, S. "The Equality Act, 2010". Research Ethics 6.3 (2010): 95-95. Web.

Peate, Ian and Joan Potterton. "Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults". Br J Healthcare

Assistants 5.1 (2011): 8-11. Web.

Petty, Geoffrey. Teaching Today. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes, 2009. Print.

Reece, Ian, Stephen Walker, and Caroline Walker-Gleaves. Teaching, Training And

Learning. Sunderland: Business Education, 2003. Print.

Robinson, Denise. "Editorial: Teaching Standards, FELTAG And The Ifl". TiLL 6.1 (2014):

3-4. Web.

The Education and Training Foundation,. Professional Standards For Teachers And

Trainers In Education And Training – England. London: LLUK., 2014. Print.

Page 6