Session 2 - Overcoming Barriers

Session objectives

• To provide an opportunity for TAs to meet and discuss issues.
• To help identify perceived barriers that are holding TAs or learners back and preventing them from being effective.
• To come up with some suggestions for ways in which perceived barriers could be
  broken down.

Great for

• Getting your TAs together to discuss issues.
• Getting your TAs to discuss good practice.
• Identifying potential solutions.
• Planning for the future.

Resources

• Marker pens.
• Paper table cloths or flip chart paper.
• Post-it notes.
• Table protectors (optional).

Time

This will depend on the number of participants that you have in attendance, but will be between an hour and an hour and a half.

Method

Set up the training room by putting paper table cloths on the tables, ensuring that there are enough tables and chairs available for small groups of TAs to sit around them. You may also need to put protectors underneath the table cloths to stop the marker pen damaging the tables. Flip chart paper can be used as an alternative to table cloths. If desired, ask participants to draw a grid on their sheets to represent a brick wall and to record their answers in each of the bricks. In small groups, ask the TAs to record on the paper table cloths what their perceived barriers are. The barriers that you ask them to identify will vary depending on local needs. For example, participants could be asked to identify what they think the barriers are that stop their learners from making progress with their Wood Badge or what the barriers are to them doing their role as a TA effectively.

Once their table cloth is complete, ask the groups to move to another table and look at the barriers that the other group has recorded on their tablecloth. To avoid misunderstandings about what has been written, you may wish to ask the groups to leave one member behind to explain what they have written down and why to the next group to avoid confusion. Alternatively, you may wish to arrange specific facilitators, for example experienced members #SkillsForLife 9 of the local training team, to sit on each table and stay behind to explain what has been written to the next group. This will ensure that none of the TAs misses out on the discussions that are taking place as the groups move around. If using facilitators, ensure that they are fully briefed beforehand on the task.

Once groups have moved tables and have read the previous groups’ perceived barriers, ask them to discuss ways in which these barriers could be overcome. Whether it is something local, or something on a national level, ask them to try and identify what is it specifically that needs to be done and who should do it. Once they have agreed on their solutions, ask them to record these on Post-it notes and stick them over the barriers on their sheet. Depending on the number of groups you have, you may wish to ask groups to move around again so that they can have a look at the barriers and suggested solutions from another group, again leaving a member behind if required. Ask groups to see if they can add any further suggestions to the existing solutions.

Once you are satisfied that enough solutions have been produced and that groups have had a chance to have a thorough look at what other groups have come up each, ask each group to feed back the barriers on their sheet, along with their proposed solutions. Ask groups to feed back a couple of ideas at the time. It is a good idea to record these ideas, either on a piece of flip chart in the training room, or ask someone else to take notes while feedback is being given. Type up feedback afterwards and send it to the course participants, with agreed actions, so that they can see that their suggestions are being taken forward and acted upon. When taking feedback, it may be useful to have members of the training team, such as Local Training Managers or the County Training Administrator, or members of wider Scouting, such as the County Commissioner or District Commissioners on hand as there may be action points for them to take away or local issues that they need to comment on.