2.1 The characteristics of boundaries

Professional relationships develop gradually over time and establishing boundaries can strengthen relationships between you, the educator, and your learners and can also support your own self-care. The role of an educator is to facilitate learning, and a tendency to over-support learners can impact negatively on an educator’s mental health. Saying ‘no’ can be hard, but clear, consistent communication can assist. It is more difficult for you if learners are told ‘yes’, when the answer which protects your mental health needs to be ‘no’. This can erode trust and distance learners from their studies, which may incur more stress for you, the educator.

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The word ‘Yes’ formed by lots of small ‘No’s.

Boundaries work best when they are pro-actively established and may need to be drawn more closely when mental health is challenged. Establishing boundaries pro-actively enables you to think through what works for both your learners and you. Identifying organisational policies and procedures which inform boundaries, such as safeguarding policies or codes of conduct which outline acceptable behaviour in the learning environment, can assist with pro-active boundary setting. It is also worth remembering that learner difficulties might be the responsibility of another department, for example pastoral support teams or specialist disability teams, and do not necessarily sit with you as their educator. Reflecting on the boundaries of your role, and identifying when others have responsibilities to learners, can help reduce stress.

Boundaries therefore enable you to be in better control of the learning environment, and therefore feel more in control overall. Feeling in control of your learning environment can assist with stress management. A direct consequence for the educator of boundary setting is the ability to manage stress and to understand when the learning environment is becoming more stressful because boundaries have been over-stepped.

Activity _unit9.3.1 Activity 3 Identifying boundaries to support self-care

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Part 1

Identifying boundaries that are not only appropriate and supportive for you and your learners, but that also support your self-care, takes careful thought and planning. Watch the video How to have boundaries when teaching adult education and list boundaries you can identify with, or have had experience of, that might impact on your own self-care and wellbeing.

Download this video clip.Video player: how_to_have_boundaries_when_teaching_adult_education.mp4

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Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DEIRDRE HICKEY

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.

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Discussion

Some of the boundaries identified in the video include use of personal mobile phones; linking on social media; giving learners a lift home; receiving money/gifts from learners; disclosure; and misunderstanding the role of the educator. The video introduced you to examples of how being clear with learners from the outset is one way of dealing with potential boundary issues, so being proactive in stating what is acceptable before it becomes an issue. This is given in the example of the connecting with learners on Facebook. Another example relates to the issue of disclosure and the need for learners to share various issues which may blur your role as their educator. This is especially important for self-care and so in this instance, being clear about what you can support the learner with is important, while also advising them of where they can access the appropriate support elsewhere.

Part 2

Now reflect on some of these boundary issues and consider what strategies you can apply in your own learning environment and professional context to support your own self-care. For example, could you familiarise yourself with organisational policies and procedures on boundaries in relation to receiving gifts from learners so that you could handle such a situation comfortably? Or could you draw on equality, diversity and inclusion policies to help you establish boundaries that recognise and respect your own and your learners’ culture and religious beliefs?

Developing such strategies in advance can help you confidently cope with situations that arise and can serve to make your workplace environment a mentally healthy, safe space for you.

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In summary, boundaries provide the structure and the parameters of a professional educator–learner relationship and help manage expectations in that relationship. This provides emotional safety for you as an educator and can give you the confidence to speak up, when necessary, rather than something happening against your better judgement. Clarity of expected behaviours enables positive mental health, potentially leading to reductions in stress in your workplace role as an educator.