Community Learning Development Resource 201 – 11
A TEACHING ROLE FOR THE CAPACITY BUILDING WORKER
SUMMARY
All of us engage in teaching at times in our lives, enabling ourselves and others to learn. The process of teaching is a form of communication leading to the transfer or delivery of learning. Teaching is not something that only trained teachers can do – it is natural gift in all of us to a greater or lesser extent. Wherever there is a human interaction and learning there will be some element of teaching.
The Effective Teacher – some core roles and responsibilities
- Motivating and encouraging the learner
- Recognising a learners’ individuality and learning needs, life needs and wants, affiliation, relationship and social needs
- Recognising a learners’ comfort zone, and understanding how to challenge its boundaries and extend it, without threatening the learner
- Recognising the individuals’ current learning abilities, and attitudes, hopes and expectations
- Identifying, sharing and agreeing with the learner, clear aims, objectives and the outcomes that could be successfully achieved
- Creating a supportive learning environment
- Using a variety of appropriate methods
- Managing the learning content – chunking it, sequencing it and pacing the learning journey and experiences appropriately
- Encouraging and enabling learner participation in interactive learning experiences, including assessment and evaluation activities
- Being empathic and supportive to individuals
- Assessing learning and evaluating the learner’s experience and giving feedback
- Reinforcing learning and differentiating where necessary
Workers and volunteers engaging in community learning and community development are frequently functioning as teachers, often within informal or non-formal learning situations rather than within formal education and training. The nature of the teaching may be described and labelled in ways other than ‘teaching’, e.g., the learning may be said to be accessed; facilitated; supported. The use of these terms is often to diminish the impact of teaching , where being taught may induce negative feelings in some learners.
HOW DO PEOPLE LEARN? ….. MOST PEOPLE LEARN:
- 10% of what they read
- 20% of what they hear
- 30% of what they see
- 50% of what they see and hear
- 70% of what they talk over with others
- 80%of what they use in real-life
- 90%of what they teach someone else. (William Glasser 1998)
PROMPT FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION
· What does this tell us about how we should plan to teach?
TEACHINGFORCAPACITYBUILDING
- Many workers will be familiar with adult teacher training programmes and support materials. These explore and support the development of the teaching role. Such sources can usually be researched and accessed within local post-school education and training provision.
- The challenge for many workers who are familiar with the practice of teachers of adults, is to take on board a role, which is less dependent on, and shaped and driven by a learning agenda – the subject, syllabus or scheme of work, and is more tuned into the individuality, capacity and readiness of a learner to learn – a Capacity Coaching role.
- The capacity building worker needs to focus more on the personal development of the learner, their capacity building and their contribution, with others, to collective capacity building. In this role the worker needs to be even more concerned and interested in developing an effective working relationship with each learner, which will enable and encourage the individual to grow as a learner and as a sensitive and creative person.
- Often even more challenging for the worker is that they will need to develop their adult teacher role with adults who are not experienced or confident, and who are not aware that they can learn successfully.