Session 3 - Debate

Session objectives

• To provide an opportunity for TAs to meet and discuss issues.
• To come up with some suggestions for ways to overcome these issues.

Great for

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

Resources

• Marker pens.
• Flipchart paper.

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

This session works really well if you have an issue, or something that you think may be an issue, in your District or County that you wish to get your TAs to discuss and come up with potential solutions to. You will need to identify the topic that you would like your TAs to discuss before the event and prepare a statement or question for this, for example ‘validation standards are inconsistent’.

Ideas for potential discussions:

• Validation standards are inconsistent.
• Learners are not making progress.
• Should TAs work with learners from their own Group?
• What should we do about non-attendance at training?

Set up the training room with enough tables and chairs for small groups to sit around. Ensure that you have organised the groups beforehand so that participants are sat with people they do not know. It's a good idea to organise experienced facilitators to sit with each group to ensure that they complete the task and remain on track.

Introduce the topic that you would like TAs to discuss and ask them to come up with a list of reasons why the statement might be true (or untrue - depending on what you want to get out of the session). If you are limited in the time you have available, you can ask TAs to come up with a certain number of reasons. Ask TAs to list their reasons in order of importance and record them on flip chart paper. Encourage TAs not to jump to conclusions, but to carefully debate the issues.

Once the task is complete, in plenary, ask each group to feed back their list of reasons. There will more than likely be some overlap between the ideas that each group has come up with. Identify what you think the key reasons are and assign one of these to each of the groups. Ensure you have enough key reasons for each group to have one. Ask groups to develop some ideas for how that particular issue could be overcome. Encourage participants to debate the issue rather than looking for instant solutions.

Once groups have come up with their solutions, in plenary, ask them to feed back their ideas to the rest of the group. Record these solutions on flipchart paper. Thank participants for their involvement in the session and for giving their feedback. Highlight what you are planning to do with the feedback and ideas that have been generated today.

Trainer note

One of the purposes of this session is to generate some suggestions for ways in which potential issues can be resolved. Therefore, the ideas and solutions produced should be taken away and acted upon. After 6 months, it may be a good idea to feed back to your TAs what has happened since the session and how their feedback has been used.