Understanding Training (Part 2): Social Learning Theory

The theory of social learning and communities of practice originated with Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave in the 1980’s and has continued to be developed by Etienne and Bev Wenger Trayner. The original theory of communities of practice proposed a model of how groups of people engage socially to develop practice that relates to a shared challenge, problem or interest. This theory has evolved into a comprehensive understanding of ‘social learning’, a community of practice being seen as a kind of social learning space.

Having trained intensively with Etienne and Bev in 2014 and 2015, I consider myself to be a social learning leader and I see all of my work as a process of developing and offering social learning spaces including:

• One day standalone training events

• Weekly visits to schools and care services

• Mentoring staff in classrooms

• One-to-one work with people with additional needs

• Standalone and group music session with people with additional needs

• Community music projects

• Weekly meditation groups

• Qigong classes

Each of these formats are a response to a specific context comprising the needs and motivations of the people involved, the environment, and the available time. As a social learning leader, my role is that of an aptist, to respond to the context as closely as possible and to find the common third that unites as much of the group as possible into self-motivated engagement and learning.

I found the intensive training with Etienne and Bev to be transformative and this practice underpins much of my work now including:

• Developing simple and straightforward language for more complex ideas that can be easily understood by people of all levels of experience and education.

• Experiential, social training sessions that value enjoyment, intrinsic motivation and involvement as necessary precursors to learning.

• Post-training resources for services to support the embedding of practice.

For more information about communities of practice and social learning see

https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/

Understanding Training (Part 1): 70/20/10

All of my training sessions are underpinned by leading edge social learning and training practice with the aim of supporting staff to develop their capacity for learning and enabling services to become learning organisations.

One important theory in the landscape of training practice is the 70:20:10 model. This theory suggests that:

• 70% of learning happens on the job, through problem solving, innovation and reflection in-action.

• 20% of the learning is said to happen in collaboration with colleagues - coaching, giving and receiving feedback, action learning and reflection on-action.

• 10% of the learning is said to come from external interventions such as the training days.

While at first glance the 70:20:10 model may seem to place less value upon external training interventions, the purpose of the model is to increase the value of all interventions. The model offers a more accurate understanding of the nature of learning within an organisation and if we use this insight to develop more suitable content for external interventions such as training days, then these strategies can lead to deeper impact and sustainable changes in practice.

Rather than focusing on individual practitioners and teaching ‘what’ to do, the 70:20:10 model orients training practice towards:

• Supporting staff to engage in reflective practice

• Introducing simple languages for practice that enable staff to engage with work related challenges more effectively

• Encouraging staff to build interpersonal relationships and trust to enhance collaboration and co-operation

• Introducing structures for mentoring and feedback

• Focusing on context and principle rather than just content

• Focusing on the entire organisation

• Focusing on ‘life’ practice that bridges work and personal life

All of my training follows the principles of 70:20:10.

For more information see https://702010institute.com/702010-model/

24/25 INSETs

INSET season is upon us and this week I have visited:

Danecourt Special School in Gillingham, Kent to lead an Intensive Interaction and Rapport Based Communication day.

Heolgerrig Community Primary School to lead a day on Intensive Interaction, Rapport and Play for staff from LRB units for Methyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

Greenfield Special School in Methyr Tydfil to lead a day on Intensive Interaction, Rapport-based communication and understanding behaviour as communication.

Supporting Autonomy

Self-determination theory suggest that wellbeing is dependent upon the fulfilment of three fundamental psychological needs - autonomy, competence and relatedness. An autonomy supportive interaction style such as rapport-based communication is an essential part of high quality care and assessing the quality of such provision is possible through the use of The Autonomy Support Questionnaire (ASQ).

Derived from the “Friendship Autonomy Support Questionnaire (FASQ)” developed by Deci, La Guardia, Moller, Scheiner, & Ryan, 2006, the FASQ was used to assess an individual’s perception of the degree to which a close friend is generally autonomy supportive within the relationship.

I am interested in whether this assessment can be used to make informed observations of care practitioners and environments. Carers have different styles of relating to the person they support and the purpose of this assessment is to determine the degree to which a carer supports a person’s need for autonomy, which is essential for wellbeing and growth.are fulfilling the autonomy needs of the person they support. I suggest that the questions below can be used to assess a person’s relationship with their Carer (teacher, teaching assistant, carer, support worker, family member, clinician). The method is to observe interactions between the carer and the person they support and then answer the 10 statements below using following 7-point scale

1. The carer provides the person with choices and options.

2. The carer is very understanding of the person.

3. My carer conveys confidence in the person's abilities.

4. The carer accepts the person.

5. The carer trusts the person.

6. The carer listens to the person’s thoughts and ideas.

7. The carer encourages the person to express their true emotions.

8. The carer cares values the personhood of the person they support.

9. The carer tries to understand how the person see things.

10. The person seems to be able to share their feelings with the carer.