City & Guilds 7303: PTLLS Unit 1 Level 3 Theory Assessment, Task 4
The establishment of basic ground rules within a learning group, enabling that group to operate effectively to the benefit of everyone involved, is fundamental to the learning process and must be in place, and understood by all, from the first day.
Within any wider educational establishment it is to be expected that specific regulations concerning conduct will be already operational, but at the more intimate level of a small learning group it should be possible to agree upon a few universally accepted guidelines that can be used to form the basis of a comfortable and relaxed environment of mutual regard.
These guidelines are best agreed in conjunction with the learners, using their in-put through group discussion, and explained by the tutor at the point at which members first meet each other: the very first session. Doing this at the initial stage emphasizes the importance of up-holding the guidelines, and the value of them in the context of learners' individual progress. Simultaneously, since this should not be in any way a contentious matter, it should be possible for the tutor to ask the entire group to decide how these ground rules should work in practice and what they seek to resolve or prevent, thereby reinforcing them through considered thought.
If we can reasonably assume that the entire group will react favourably towards any attempt to encourage mutual respect within learning tasks and on a personal level, even if it is only for purely self-regarding reasons, then the setting of a few agreed rules of conduct that actively seek to promote this should prove comparatively simple.