How to Establish Relationships with Chn and Young People
Describe how to establish respectful, professional relationships with children and young people. As a teaching assistant, the job involves working with young people. In order to establish respectful and professional relationships with these individuals, you should consider all of the children and the range of abilities. To develop a positive working relationship with the pupils, principles and values need to be understood in order for a professional relationship to be formed.
Ensuring that the welfare of pupils is at the centre of the school is a key principle that needs to be majorly considered, if not this could seriously affect the relationship between a TA and child as the main needs will not be met. However, as individuals are at different development stages to their peers it means that different appropriate behaviour is needed. An example of this is by the use of empowering pupils through play and learning; however the lower ability of the child means that the child will need more assistance, and the activity will need to include more play learning.
Instead of the child’s academic needs being the most important, the principle of ensuring physical and personal safety for the child within the working environment is also key. Without the assurance of the child’s safety and well-being, it could lead the child to contribute less towards the activity. Linking back to different needs of children, as a responsible adult it’s important to respect every pupil as an individual.
If a group of children are perceived as “the same” it could seriously affect the children, they could be less willing to take part in activities and also they will feel as if they’re lacking individual encouragement. As well as this, to establish a respectful relationship with children and young people it’s important to show considerate and caring attitude towards the children. If the teaching assistant implies that they are solely interested in the work, it will allow the children to become unfocused and distracted.
However, if the teaching assistant shows a caring attitude towards each individual it could put the child more at ease, and also could allow the child to become more interested within the task. Overall, as long as the teaching assistant is approachable and willing to listen to pupils, as well as being able to give time to the children then this will help to develop a suitable working relationship. As a result of this, it will help the children to communicate as they will be seen as a valued person.
