Communication and Professional Relationships with Children and Young Adults

Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults Introduction This unit provides the knowledge that forms the basis of effective communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults. Learners will find out how to adapt their communication to suit the age or developmental stage of the person they are interacting with. The unit also covers the legislation, policies and procedures concerned with confidentiality, data protection and the disclosure of information. Learning outcomesAfter completing this unit, learners should: 1 2 3 4 know how to interact with and respond to children and young people know how to interact with and respond to adults know how to communicate with children, young people and adults know about current legislation, policies and procedures for confidentiality and sharing information, including data protection. This unit has links to the following national occupational standards. STL4 Contribute to pos itive relationships SWiS 2. 2 Explore school values, policies, roles and responsibilities CCLD 201 Contribute to positive relationshipsAdditional guidance for delivery For all sessions, it will be useful if the learners have access to school policy covering confidentiality and the grievance procedure. For session 1, you may like ask learners to research into relationships within the workplace. For session 2, you can facilitate a whole-class discussion in which learners identify someone whom they think is a good role model and give reasons for their choice. For session 3, learners can carry out some research on the Internet about communication and how to deal with conflict.They may find the websites listed helpful for this task. For session 4, you can ask a college employee to come in to discuss with the learners how their personal information is stored within the organisation and how this adheres to current legislation. Further resources Burnham, L. and Baker, B. (2010) Level 2 Cert ificate in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools Candidate Handbook, Oxford: Heinemann www. talkingpoint. org. uk – Website of the charity Talking Point, which contains a wealth of information on children’s communication. ww. transformingconflict. org – A useful website from the Transforming Conflict organisation, which offers advice and training on how to deal with conflict. Continued overleaf 1  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools TDA 2. 3 Introduction continued Answers to activitiesA1 Interacting with young people and children to establish relationships Task 1 Words should appear in the following order: 1 4 trust positive 2 5 relationship high expectations 3 6 honest communicate A3 Interactions with adults How to establish professio nal relationships with adults By approaching and responding politely Be committed to cooperative working By considering the views of others Why adult relationships are important as role models for children and young people To demonstrate positive relationships To demonstrate mutual respect To model effective communicationA4 Communication Age range Younger than 2 years 2–3 years 3–4 years 4–8 years 8–16 years Adults How communication differs Vocabulary is limited. Communicating mainly through body language and by reading facial expressions. Starting to copy adults, learning more words and gaining confidence. Starting to string words together and may be using questions. Using language to build relationships. Developing reading and writing skills. Developing discussion and negotiation skills. More confident and using more complex language. Can communicate using complex language.Able to use verbal and non-verbal communication. A5 Adapting communication Task 1 Different ideas – People may interpret things differently and have a different concept of what everyone should be doing Poor communication – Not passing on information and failing to agree as a team can cause problems within school Different personalities – Everyone is different and sometimes, despite the best efforts, certain individuals just cannot get along A6 Legislation Data Protection Act (1998) – Legislation that ensures pupils’ personal information is locked away or password-protected if stored on computers.Confidentiality – Safeguarding all pupil information and ensuring that the people you are sharing information with are authorised to receive it. Disclosing information – When information has to be shared with outside agencies, for example, when neglect or abuse is suspected. A7 Sharing information Words should appear in the following order: 1 5 confidential special 2 6 authorised shared 3 7 personal staff 4 medical 2  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. Overview of resources continued Overview of resources: TDA 2. Link to Functional Skills Link to textbook Resources Delivery notes 1 Know how to interact with and respond to children and young people English: Speaking, listening and communication A1 Interacting with children and young people to establish relationships Task 1 of this activity asks learners to discuss how they establish relationships with children and young people in their work setting; they then complete a fill-the-gaps exercise. Task 2 asks learners to answer two questions about disagreements and adapting communication depending on the situation. A2 Own behaviourThis activity requires learners to complete two spider diagrams by giving examples of how their own behaviour can promote interactions with children and young people or impact negatively upon them. 2 Know how to interact with and respond to adults A3 Interacti ons with adults In this activity, learners are asked to consider how they establish professional relationships with other adults and why these relationships are important as role models for children and young people. They then summarise their thoughts by completing a table, using a list of provided statements. Know how to communicate with children, young people and adults A4 Communication This activity asks learners to consider how different age groups communicate. They are required to complete a table by selecting statements from a provided list. ICT: Developing, presenting and communicating information English: Speaking, listening and communication TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. A5Adapting communication Task 1 of this activity requires learners to matc h different communication difficulties with the correct descriptions. In Task 2, learners are asked to consider two scenarios about disagreements and explain how they will deal with them. 4 Know about current legislation, policies and procedures for confidentiality and sharing information, including data protection A6 Legislation This linking lines activity asks learners to match legislation, policies and procedures with the correct descriptions. 1 Continued overleaf Overview of resources continued Resources English: Writing Delivery notesLink to Functional Skills Link to textbook A7 Sharing Information Task 1 of this activity is a fill-the-gaps exercise about the importance of reassuring children, young people and adults of the confidentiality of shared information. For Task 2, learners discuss in groups the types of situation when confidentiality protocol must be breached; they must then write down two examples of such situations. Electronic resources PowerPoint P1 Maintaining rel ationships The PowerPoint presentation for this unit looks at how to communicate effectively with different age groups and the importance of confidentiality, including data protection.It is best used by looking at the relevant slides in each session of the scheme of work, but can be worked through in its entirety at the end of session 4 for learners to reflect on their learning. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. Knowledge check Interactive quiz covering learning from TDA 2. 3 for revision purposes, designed to be completed individually by learners (e. g. via a VLE) or as a group in a group session. Continued overleaf Scheme of work continued Scheme of work: TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults Activiti es and resources You may like to begin this session with a discussion about how to interact with children and young people. Then split the group into smaller groups to complete Activity A1. PowerPoint P1 slides 2, 3 and 4 support this session. This can lead to small-group work in which learners discuss, compare and complete Activity A2 on how their own behaviour promotes effective interactions or negatively impacts children and young people. Session numberLearning outcomes/Assessment criteria Functional Skills English: Speaking, listening and communication 1 Learners will know how to interact with and respond to children and young people. They will know how to establish respectful, professional relationships with children and young people and will be able to describe, with examples, how to behave appropriately for a child or young person’s stage of development. Learners will also be able to describe how to deal with disagreements between children and young people and how thei r own behaviour can promote effective interactions with children and young people or impact negatively upon them. 1. 1, 1. 2, 1. 3, 1. 4) You may like to have a class discussion about establishing positive relationships with adults and why these are important for children and young people to witness. PowerPoint P1 slides 5 and 6 support this session, as does Activity A3. 2 Learners will know how to interact with and respond to adults. They will be able to describe how to establish respectful, professional relationships with adults and the importance of these relationships as role models for children and young people. (2. 1, 2. ) You may like to begin this session by looking again at PowerPoint P1 slide 2 and instigating a discussion about adapting communication to suit a person’s stage of development. You may then like to follow this with Activity A4. You can consolidate the activity sheet by pairing learners and giving each pair a different age range and then encouraging the m to communicate in a way more suited to that age. For Activity A5, learners can work independently and research or use reflection to complete the tasks. PowerPoint P1 slide 7 supports this activity.See the Further resources section for suggested websites to help learners with their research for this session. ICT, Developing, presenting and communicating information English: Speaking, listening and communication TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. 3 Learners will know how to communicate with children, young people and adults.They will be able to describe how communication with children and young people differs across different age ranges and stages of development, as well as the main differences between communicating with adults and communicating with childre n and young people. Learners will be able to identify examples of communication difficulties that may exist and describe how to adapt communication to meet different needs. They will also be able to describe how to deal with disagreements between the practitioner and children and young people, or between the practitioner and other adults. (3. 1, 3. 2, 3. 3, 3. 4, 3. 5) 1 Continued overleafScheme of work continued Session number Activities and resources You may like to begin this session with a discussion or research opportunity looking at the legislation that covers confidentiality and data protection. Activity A6 and PowerPoint P1 slide 8 will support this. For Activity A7, ask the learners to work in small groups to discuss and consider the importance of reassuring children, young people and adults of the limits of confidentiality. If there is an opportunity near the end of the session, go through the whole of PowerPoint P1, giving learners time to consider and answer the reflecti ve questions on the last slide.As a group, or on an individual basis, ask the learners to complete the Interactive Knowledge Check to finish the unit. English: Writing Learning outcomes/Assessment criteria Functional Skills 4 Learners will know about and be able to identify current legislation, policies and procedures for confidentiality and sharing information, including data protection. They will be able to describe the importance of reassuring children, young people and adults about the confidentially of shared information and the limits of this.They will also know the kinds of situations when confidentiality protocols must be breached. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. (4. 1, 4. 2, 4. 3) 2 Continued overleaf Unit 2. 3 Communication and professional rela tionships with children, young people and adults AC: 1. 1, 1. 2, 1. 3 FS: English: Speaking, Listening and communication 2. A1: Interacting with children and young people to establish relationships Task 1 In small groups, discuss how you establish respectful and professional relationships with children and young people. Then, fill in the gaps in the following paragraph using the words from the box below. When working with children or young people, it is important to earn their to enable a positive Hold to develop. This can usually be done by and fair at all times. values and attitudes, and ensure that you have ensuring that your behaviour is professional, of the pupils that you support.Adapt the way in which you to suit the age or stage of development that a pupil is currently at. communicate high expectations positive relationship honest trust Task 2 In groups, consider the following questions and write your answers in the spaces below. 1 How do you deal with disagreements between children and young people? Include an example from your work setting when you have had to this (please do not include any names of pupils or the school). 2 How would you have adapted the way that you behaved in the above situation if the child or young person was in reception class or in Year 6?Functional Skills English: Reading – You could use the text book to help you find the information you need to match the expected stage of development to the reason why the child may not have reached it. 1  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults AC: 1. 4 2. 3 A2: Own behaviour In small groups, discuss how your own behaviour can promote effective interactions with children and young people or impact negatively upon them.Write your answers on the spider diagrams below. Showing an open, friendly approach How your own behaviour can pr omote interactions Upsetting people with your body language How your own behaviour can impact negatively upon interactions 1  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults AC: 2. 1, 2. 2 2. 3 A3: Interactions with adults Consider how you establish professional relationships with other adults.Think about why these adult relationships are important as role models for children and young people. Complete the table below using the statements in the boxes. How to establish professional relationships with adults How positive relationships with other adults can provide important role models for children and young people Demonstrate positive relationships Demonstrate mutual respect Be committed to cooperative working Consider the views of others Approach and respond politely Model effective communication 1  © The TA College 2010 under licen ce to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. TDA 2. Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults AC: 3. 1, 3. 2 2. 3 A4: Communication FS: ICT: Developing, presenting and communicating information The way that we communicate will differ depending on the age of the person we are communicating with. Complete the table below, using the statements in the boxes, to show how communication differs across age ranges. Age range Younger than 2 years How communication differs 2–3 years 3–4 years 4–8 years 8–16 years Adults Developing discussion and negotiation skills. More confident and using more complex language. Vocabulary is limited.Communicating mainly through body language and by reading facial expressions. Starting to string words together and may be using questions. Can communicate using complex language. Able to use verbal and nonverbal vommunication. Using language to build relationships. Deve loping reading and writing skills. Starting to copy adults, learning more words and gaining confidence. Functional Skills English: Speaking, listening and communication – You could complete this activity in pairs verbally in the form of an interview. Take it in turns to play the role of the interviewer and then the person being interviewed.This is a good way of developing your speaking, listening and communication skills. 1  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults AC: 3. 3, 3. 4, 3. 5 2. 3 A5: Adapting communication FS: English: Speaking, listening and communication Occasionally, communication difficulties can occur. In such situations, it is important to continue to behave in a respectful and professional manner. Draw a line to match each possible communication difficulty to the correct description.Everyone is different and sometimes, despite the best efforts, certain individuals just cannot get along. Not passing on information and failing to agree as a team can cause problems within school. People may interpret things differently and have a different concept of what everyone should be doing. Different ideas Poor communication Different personalities Task 2 Read the following scenarios and record your answers in the spaces below. Scenario A There is a disagreement between one of your colleagues and a pupil and the situation is getting worse. What will you do and how will you adapt the way you communicate with them?Scenario B There is a disagreement between two of your colleagues and the situation is getting worse. What will you do? Functional Skills ICT: Developing, presenting and communicating information – You could complete this table on the computer. Add an extra column on the right with the heading ‘How I would support these transitions’ and write how you would support a child with these transitions. 1  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults AC: 4. 2. 3 A6: Legislation It is important to know the legislation, policies and procedures that cover data protection, confidentiality and the sharing of information. Draw a line to match each legislation or school procedure to the correct description. Safeguarding all pupil information and ensuring that the people you are sharing information with are authorised to receive it Data Protection Act (1998) Confidentiality Legislation that ensures pupils’ personal information is locked away or password-protected if stored on computers Disclosing informationWhen information has to be shared with outside agencies, for example, when neglect or abuse is suspected 1  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopyi ng permitted. TDA 2. 3 Communication and professional relationships with children, young people and adults AC: 4. 2, 4. 3 2. 3 A7: Sharing information Task 1 FS: English: Writing In small groups, discuss the importance of reassuring children, young people and adults that you will keep shared information confidential and the limits of this. Then fill in the gaps in the following paragraph using the words from the box below.As a learning support practitioner, you will come into regular contact with information. You may need to reassure parents and other adults that the information that you are confidential. Pupil records that hold their of birth, home address and to know will be kept information, date details are important for you to have access to in an emergency, but they must remain locked away otherwise. You may need to know other information about the pupil, such as their current assessment level or if they have any This information must remain confidential and can only be betwee n authorised authorised personal members. onfidential medical shared special staff educational needs. Task 2 As a group, consider situations when the rules about confidentiality must be broken. Write two examples of these situations in the spaces below. 1 2 Functional Skills English: Reading – You could develop your reading skills by using your textbook to select the relevant information you need to help you to answer these questions. 1  © The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted. Communication and Professional Relationships with Children and Young Adults Communication and professional relationships with children. Outcome 2: Know how to interact and respond to adults Outcome 3: Know how to communicate with children, young people and adults 2. 12. 23. 23. 33. 4| Whether at work, home, in education or in social environments, respectful relationships with other humans are at the heart of good communications. We all learn from example and experience, so it is extremely important that adults working with young people develop and display respect for each other as well as for the young people in their care.A good baseline for a professional and respectful attitude is to acknowledge and accept that everyone is different. By understanding and valuing these differences, rather than assuming that we all share the same values and opinions, we demonstrate that we are aware of our colleagues as individuals with different personalities, teaching styles, cultural practices, experiences and backgrounds. All adults and learners should be valued for thi s. We should recognise the competence and experience of all people we work with and expect ours to be acknowledged too.If we can offer help to less experienced colleagues or seek help from more experienced or better qualified members of staff, we will be expressing respect for each other. Differences of opinion and working styles are bound to occur but communicating honestly and seeking peer feedback will help minimise misunderstandings and conflict. We should endeavor to support each other to develop a working and learning environment that promotes self-esteem and growth and allows challenges and conflicts to be resolved by negotiation and compromise.Young people will have a number of significant adults in their life – some may impact negatively, some positively, on their ability to communicate effectively with adults in different settings. In an educational establishment therefore, if we display consistent, respectful and professional communications with each other, with th e learners themselves and with parents, carers and members of the public, we are offering them positive role models. We develop our language and communication skills from birth and discover different ways of dealing with others by example and experience.If young people see and hear adults supporting each other, resolving conflict, discussing, laughing, giving opinions, listening and responding in positive ways they can use these interactions to reinforce or challenge their own experiences of the world. For example, simply using good manners and respectful language with each other in front of the young people can offer them a reference for successful interactions in other settings. If a young person’s experience of social skills does not include the tools for resolving conflict by calm, reasonable discussion – we can model it.If they do not have the tools to express their feelings positively – we can model it. By doing so, we establish a safe, nurturing and consi stent environment where positive, respectful interactions are the norm. There are of course, differences between communicating with adults and communicating with children and young people. The main difference is the actual vocabulary used. Children start to develop communication skills from birth going through a developmental cycle of language and communication to equip them with the language and strategies to deal with adult life.However, children will develop at different rates and a 16 year old may not have the language and communication skills expected of a child from the 8 – 12 year group or visa versa, and we should be aware of this when communicating verbally or in written form with our learners. We should use words they are familiar with and understand readily, but also be careful not to talk down and be patronising. More complex vocabulary should not necessarily be avoided however, and can be incorporated with explanation as a learning opportunity.Also we should be a ware of the subject matters that we cover. Material discussed between adults may not appropriate to discuss with some learners due to their developmental age. Discussions around sensitive issues such as gender, culture and relationships will be approached differently with younger people who may not have the language or experience of an adult and we can support them when investigating these subjects with appropriate vocabulary and examples. The majority of young people communicate with peers using phrases and words which are specific to their age and friendship groups.They may also write in text or abbreviated form used to communicate via mobiles and social media. It will seem ‘odd’ or patronising for an adult to use this language with young people but gaining an understanding of meaning and context is useful in avoiding miscommunication. Difficulties in communication may also occur when a person’s body language does not mirror the spoken word. A positive and â₠¬Ëœwarm’ voice may clash with fierce eyes in the classroom. You need to mean what you say! Giving mixed messages with your body language may confuse learners.We need to be aware of the different needs of each student and not assume that all learners have the same level of communication development. Some learners may find it incredibly difficult to communicate with adults. They avoid eye-contact, will rarely participate in class activities or respond to direct questioning. We can help these learners by involving them in small groups, using non-threatening questioning techniques such as mini-whiteboards and quizzes and continually modeling safe communications with other learners.Using age appropriate vocabulary and keeping teacher talk to a minimum with short (no more than three steps), clear and precise instructions can benefit learners with dyslexia and attention problems. We can also adapt our resources and delivery styles to accommodate different needs. Student’s who se first language is not English, may need vocabulary crib sheets and simplified texts, learners with hearing or sight impairments may benefit from being seated in the room.In conclusion, to establish effective communication with young people, we need to be aware of their different developmental stages and their specific individual needs. We need to acknowledge that they may not yet have the skills to allow them to communicate with adults and with each other successfully and that we assist in their development by modeling respectful and professional relationships with our colleagues and with them at all times. |