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Differing Roles for Communication Support Workers in post-16 education

Differing Roles for Communication Support Workers in post-16 education. By Rachel Horsington and Vicki Jerreat. Session Overview:. To look at the role of the Communication Support Worker To explore how the role differs within higher education

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Differing Roles for Communication Support Workers in post-16 education

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  1. Differing Roles for Communication Support Workers in post-16 education By Rachel Horsington and Vicki Jerreat

  2. Session Overview: • To look at the role of the Communication Support Worker • To explore how the role differs within higher education • To consider some of the ethical dilemmas' Communication Support Workers may encounter

  3. ACTIVITY: • Think about the role of the Communication Support Worker… • What DO they do? • What DON’T they do?

  4. What is a Communication Support Worker? It is a Communication Support Workers role to: • Relay as faithfully as possible what is being spoken or signed in a way that matches the students level of language • To facilitate learning and social interaction • Remain professional - you are not the students friend and it is not your job to give your personal views

  5. CSW BSL skills vary from Level 2 to Level 4 Translates between BSL and English Should keep all information confidential Usually works in educational settings. Recent emergence of CSW’s in the workplace In addition to signing, during the course of their day, a CSW can also:- note take, act as pastoral support, modify resources, modify students written language, tutor 1:1, invigilate exams, help student develop language... The list goes on. Interpreter Minimum of NVQ Level 3 combined with Interpreter training Translates between BSL and English Keeps all information confidential Can work in a variety of settings: medical, legal, workplace, meetings, theatre… But isn’t a Communication Support Worker just an unqualified Interpreter?

  6. What qualities should a CSW have? • Dedication – Training costs money and the journey is a long one. • Patience – Sometimes your student just won’t get it… • Resilience in the face of adversity. Sometimes the student won’t like you, the lecturer won’t help you do your job and everyone is speaking at once • Soft skills – For when you need to do your job but the lecturer wants to turn the lights out and show a un-subtitled video about Russian revolutionists… Yes, this happened to me! • A strong sense of humour… Some things are just out of your control!

  7. What we do at City Lit

  8. GROUP 1 You work with a young Asian girl regularly every Thursday. You’ve been with her for about 8 months and feel that you have gotten to know her quite well. Over the last few weeks you’ve noticed that her mood has taken a turn for the worse; she’s not concentrating in class and she’s talking less and less about her friends. She says she has no plans for the future and it doesn’t matter what grades she gets. One day she confesses that her father has taken her passport away from her and that they are planning a family trip for her 17th birthday next month. She is worried. GROUP 2 You have begun to work with a student who has requested BSL support for a degree level computer programming course. The subject content is complicated. The student always sits at the back of the class. She seems to understand what you are signing but when asked she fails to respond appropriately to questions and tasks. When you offer to take notes instead she says no and wants you to keep signing. You have also begun to suspect that she has an undeclared visual impairment because she holds your arm when the corridor is dark. In pairs or groups of 3, discuss one of the following dilemmas

  9. Shhh, it’s a secret! • What is a dilemma!? • “A situation in which a choice must be made from among different alternatives; a difficult or complex set of circumstances” • www.apsu.edu/wet/OLD_PROJECT_WET_WEBSITE/whatis.html • The secret is… that there is no right or wrong answer

  10. Session Summary • Remember that there is no right or wrong answer – try to be objective and don’t base decisions on personal beliefs or feelings over fact • You are a person first and a professional second – occasionally you may make the wrong judgement call so learn from it

  11. Thank you for coming. Please help yourself to tea and coffee. Deaf and disabled learning support can offer: • In-class student support in communication, note-taking and interpreting; • One-to-one learning and language tutorials; • Advice to subject tutors; • Deaf awareness training in working with D/deaf students; • Exam modification and liaison over special exam arrangements; • Access to a specialist student support officer and advice on technology; • A consultancy service. Minicom: 020 7492 2746 Voice: 020 492 2722 Email: dds@citylit.ac.uk

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