Transcript

Well, the typical issues that come up basically in adult education between a tutor and a student can be things like use of personal mobile phone, can be things like a student wanting to link with you on Facebook, that in many cases isn’t really very appropriate because that’s quite a personal thing. And it’s a good example of where boundaries come in because you might be embarrassed. You get a Facebook request to be a friend with a student, and you’re there going, I don’t want to do this. What do I do? So in most cases, you’ll just ignore it and hope it’ll go away, which of course it won’t. Where you could just say at the start of your class, look, lads, I don’t actually link in with students on Facebook. It’s nothing personal. I just don’t like to do it. Problem solved, in that sort of instance. Things like giving students lifts home, receiving presents from students. If a student wants to give you a bunch of flowers for all the work you’ve done when they’re finishing up, great. But we had a situation recently where a student gave a tutor 100 euros in an envelope. Now, you can’t have that. That’s just completely inappropriate. So all those sorts of issues. And a big one also I think is disclosure. Students become quite friendly with their tutors, and they may put their tutor into the role, I suppose, of being an advisor or a therapist on occasion. So you might have students disclosing issues about feeling depressed, feeling suicidal, or. That’s very important that you know what the boundaries are there. That has to be referred on to an appropriate agency. It’s not your job to be a psychiatrist or a therapist or what have you. So all those sorts of issues very much as a result because the relationship is both professional and personal. So that’s where boundaries come in. You draw your line, basically. I suppose you know what the rules are about. What is it that you’re there to do? You’re there to teach.