Volunteer Training Sessions for ICG

I am not sure if this count towards my CPD or not, but I thought I would include it as I got some ideas and useful information from the 4 Volunteer Training workshops for the ICG I attended on Monday night. 

The first workshop was about "The Handbook", basically code of conduct, rules and responsibilities, etc.  The neat thing that I got from this workshop was related to the workshops main activity, where we were split into 6 groups of about four or five people.  The basic idea was to Group-Pair-Share; there were three discussion topics that circulated.  The topics consisted of:

• What would you like to get from the ICG?
• What is expected of us?
• What is expected of you?

I thought a bit more about this and how I could use this in my teaching.  I thought this would be a good idea to use when you first meet your new class(es) in September, for example:

• What would you like to get from this English class? Math class? etc?
• What you expect of me, the teacher?
• What I expect of you, the students?

I remember that when my teachers presented their expectations (i.e. don't be late, come prepared for class and ready to work, etc), I respected them a lot more for the respect that they showed their students as they then allowed us to come up with some rules for them, for example don't be late, give helpful feed back in a timely fashion, etc.  The above sort of activity would be a good way for the class to come up with classroom rules and expectations for the students, teacher and what we would all like to take from the class.

The second workshop was in regards to child protection and safeguarding.  They introduced briefly Scotland's "Getting it Right for Every Child" Programme (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/childrensservices/girfec) and the 13 Expectations from "The Charter for Children and Young People" (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1181/0008817.pdf).  Below, is a copy of the page containing the 13 expectations.

As a teacher, it is important to keep these expectations in mind, as it is "about what is important to [the students we teach] and how we go about helping to protect them".
The key points discussed in the workshop are: that if we are concerned that a child is in need of protection, it is important to speak to someone.  We were informed that: It is better to have a concern investigated and dismissed than not investigated and have something happen to the child.  Times when you should speak to someone consist of:

• when a child discloses information to you
• when you witness an incident
• when you notice unusual/suspicious bruising and/or marks
• when you suspect abuse, harm, and/or neglect

What you should do if a child is disclosing information to you:

• remain calm.
• listen and hear carefully what the child is really saying, not what you think they are trying to say
• allow them the chance to speak, free from interruption.
• be honest with them - you MUST NEVER tell them that you won`t disclose the information that they share with you, you MUST tell them that you will need to speak with others to seek advice about the situation and what they disclose.  Do not gossip or discuss the situation widely.
• take their concerns seriously, do not ignore the allegations, exagerate them or trivialise them.
• seek advice, DO NOT INVESTIGATE the situation on your own, let someone who is trained to do so carry out the investigation.
• record information as soon as possible (try not to write while speaking to the child, but do try to recall verbatim what is disclosed to you).

Do not:

• say or do anything inappropriate or suggestive to the child.
• bully or harm the child, or allow them to be bullied or harmed.
• hitting, grabbing, pushing, etc.
• become overly familiar with a child.

The workshop's main message:  Safeguarding is everyone`s responsibility.  If in doubt, check it out.

Workshop number 3 was about effective communication.  It began with us being asked what our jobs were and how do we do them effectively? To which we were told "Your job is to communicate" and how we do that effectively was the purpose of the presentation.  With something like 80 different countries being represented at the ICG, communication is key.  All the children may not speak English, but the idea is that there are other ways in which we communicate; it is not always just about the words we use.  The hierarchy that was shared with us stated:

Finally, the last workshop was the Police speaking about Counter Terrorism.  This was interesting as it is not something that often is spoken about to teachers or the public especially not in regards to a children's event.  However, because the ICG are an international event, it did have to be touched upon as it is always a possibility.