2 Establishing and maintaining professional boundaries: what is meant by ‘boundaries’?

Establishing professional boundaries, as you learned in Week 2, is a key aspect of educators’ roles and can support your own as well as your learners’ mental health. Boundaries enable positive and healthy professional relationships and bring clarity in what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable, behaviour within professional relationships. Boundaries are described by Barnett (2008) as ground rules which provide the basis of the professional relationship and according to Mckay and Macomber ‘relationships are more than just knowing the learner’s names; they encompass mutual respect, building trust, and feelings of safety’ (2021, p. 1).