Roles and resposibilities and boundaries in teaching cycle

Introduction

It is beyond doubt that any teacher will certainly need to define his role and responsibility when starting to teach a new subject, however, in order to achieve this, it must follow the teaching cycle stages, and each stage is taken into consideration, and then it could be moulded to a specific subject. This will help the teacher to incorporate the various needs of his/her learners, who have levels and preferred learning styles, and will help with choosing and applying the appropriate teaching methods and styles that will ultimately help with ensuring the learners achievement. In this essay I will be discussing my roles and responsibilities and boundaries that I encounter as a teacher when performing my duties in the lifelong learning sector, and how my role is dictated and affected by the five stages of the teaching cycle. In addition, I will be discussing how the current legislative requirements and code of practice that are affecting my status of professionalism.

Main Body

The teaching cycle consists of five stages, and they are: Identify Need and planning, Designing, Facilitating, Assessing, and evaluating. (Kolb, 1984) states that People have different learning styles which are affected by personality type, educational area, career, and present job role, therefore, my role would be to initially identify the needs of my learners and assess them to find the appropriate teaching styles that suits them, however, at the same time, this would be considered as a one of the boundaries that I would be facing because, I have no way to assess my students till day one of the course when show up In class. I also need to identify the needs of the college that I work for. In addition to the above, my main role at this stage is to come up with a scheme of work, create lesson plans. Some of my responsibilities will include doing research on my subject and keeping up to date with teaching practices.

My role at the design stage would be a variety of things; it could be researcher, designer, planner etc. But the main role remains how to plan and design the course. Having said that, it is my responsibility to design the syllabus in a way that meets both the learner’s organisation’s requirements. Keeping in mind the learning outcomes, and aims and objectives, and in the allocated length of time. The boundaries that I will encounter at this stage are that I have to be cautious of my college’s requirements and also the legal obligations; the course plan must not exceed the allocated time. Resources have to be available for students and not difficult to get or costly, City and Guilds 7303.

Learning style preferences determine the things people learn and the ease with which they learn them. They exert a hidden, but powerful, influence on learning effectiveness.

My role at this stage could be a teacher, tutor, facilitator, lecturer, etc. It is to make communication possible and easy so that all my students are stimulated to start a discussion about the subject, which will make sure that the aims and objectives are applicable to my students. According to Peter Honey Publications “learning style preferences determine the things people learn and the ease with which they learn them. They exert a hidden, but powerful, influence on learning effectiveness”. Therefore, my responsibilities are observing and assessing the students’ progress, making sure that learning has occurred whilst taking into account the learners changing needs and choosing the appropriate learning styles that most fit my students. Some of the boundaries that I will be facing at this stage is to act in a professional way during my classes. Furthermore, as an FE sector teacher, I should always behave and communicate in an appropriate way, and take into consideration cultural differences. I should also endeavour to keep a professional distance and not to get too close to students yet always strive to gain mutual trust and respect.

In order to identify weak and strong students as well as particular teaching styles and approaches, that would be useful within the learning environment, the best method would be to carry out a form of assessment with the learning individuals. Then from this assessment you would be able evaluate and identify individuals that are both strong and weak, and establish which teaching approaches would be more effective to the entire group as well as the individuals. By providing teaching methods that are visual, auditory and kinaesthetic, the individuals would be given the right to equal learning and allow for them to explore their aims and objectives from a different angle which may create a better understanding, in order for them to gain their achievements.

References
1- Kolb D.A. (1984) ‘Experiential Learning experience as a source of learning and development’, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 2- City and Guilds 7303 Theory Assignment 1. [online] Available from: [Accessed: 11 May 2014]. 3- Peter Honey Publications, The Learning Styles Questionnaire. [online]