Answer

• Workplace Learning
• Name:
• Instructor:
• Course Code:
• Date:
• Introduction
• Workplace learning refers to the process whereby employees learn in the work environment, with the goal of improving employment prospects and furthering their education.
• It is an exciting and innovative way for employees who were employed with low skills to improve their qualifications.
• An organization which offers learning within its context not only benefits the employees but also itself.
• When considering the introduction of learning in the organization, the management needs to take some key concepts into consideration.
• Two Factors to be Considered when Planning a Workplace Learning Program

1) National Occupational Standards

• standard #1 is about the research and identification of the collective learning and development needs (Anon. 2010, p. 9).
• Standard #2 involves the identification of individual learning and development needs (Anon. 2010, p.13).
• Standard #3 features the planning and preparation of the learning and development programs (Anon. 2010, p. 16).
• Standard #4 features the planning and preparation of specific learning and development opportunities (Anon. 2010, p.20.
• Standard #5 involves the development and preparation of resources for learning and development (Anon. 2010, p.23).
• Standard #6 involves managing the learning and development process in groups (Anon. 2010, p.26).
• Standard #7 is focused on the learning and development of an individual (Anon. 2010, p. 29).
• Standard #8 is all about engaging and supporting learners in the process of learning and development (Anon. 2010, p. 32).
• Standard #9 features assessing learner achievement (Anon. 2010, p. 35).
• Standard #10, thus, will feature a reflection, development and maintenance of an individual’s skills and practice (Anon. 2010, p. 38).
• Standard #11 is about the internal monitoring and maintenance of the quality of assessment (Anon. 2010, p. 42).
• Standard #12 involves the external monitoring and maintenance of assessment quality (Anon. 2010, p. 45).
• Standard #13, features an evaluation and improvement of learning and development provision (Anon. 2010, p.48).
• 2) Provisions for the Disabled
• People living with disabilities tend to get employment in various work positions and environments such as administration, management, design, technology, and even a manufacturing setting.
• Handling employment activities also acts to provide life purpose as it encourages independence and productivity for the disabled (Butterfield & Ramseur 2004, p. 201).
• Unfortunately 18.5 million individuals aged 15–64 yrs, and are disabled, face difficulties when it comes to finding employment and staying employed (Butterfield & Ramseur 2004, p. 202).
• A majority of people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often suffer when it comes to meeting work demands simple because they are challenged by functional limitations, which are the permanent symptoms relating directly to the injury (Artman & McMahon 2013, p.13).
• According to Artman and McMahon (2013, p.13), these functional limitations feature many symptoms that vary with regards to type, duration or intensity.
• These include sensory, gross and fine motor, physiological, communication, emotional, and cognitive impairments (Artman & McMahon 2013, p.13).
• If there are offices upstairs, the organization must ensure that a climbing lane is created to facilitate movements for people on wheelchairs.
• if the program will involve a workshop, all the speakers must be assigned a person who will interpret the words into sign language.
• Two Teaching Strategies to Support Learning of Others
• 1)Coaching
• Coaches are individuals who work with colleagues so as to provide them with support as they develop their practice (Baggerman al. 2015, p. 294).
• They usually do so by observing lessons and constantly offering an opportunity for professional dialogue.
• As the coach offers guidance, it gives an opportunity for reflection and problem solving (Baggerman al. 2015, p. 297).
• Coaching is also an effective strategy in the sense that the learner will be able to learn what he does wrong in a real life setting, thus leading to great improvements in knowledge and skills (Baggerman al. 2015, p. 300).
• as the coach and learner interact, they are also building a relationship that will continue even after the learning program is over (Baggerman al. 2015, p. 301).
• 2)Mentoring
• This is a structured process used for the support of professional learners through significant career transitions (Riley & Fearing 2009, p. 228).
• Therefore, it only happens once in a while, while coaching goes on for days (Riley & Fearing 2009, p. 229).
• mentoring involves a person who is more senior in the organization, giving roles and advice to other members.
• Third, mentoring only takes place whenever there is a motive behind it, for instance succession planning (Riley & Fearing 2009, p. 231).
• in specific cases, the mentor is expected to provide documented evidence of the mentoring process and related outcomes, which may be the achievement of certain set competencies (Riley & Fearing 2009, p. 233).
• A Strategy for Delivering and Assessing Learning in a Health and Social Care Environment
• Assessment provides tool that can be used to measure the achievements made by learners, as well as assist the learning process of students (Asghar 2010, p. 404).
• It can shape an individual’s identity, the place in society that the individual holds, as well as influence an individual’s sense of value and purpose (Asghar 2010, p. 404).
• Strategies that involve the co-operation of the student are commonly underused in higher education despite the fact that certain courses require individuals to get equipped with skills that need manual dexterity, knowledge and clinical reasoning (Asghar 2010, p. 406).
• Physiotherapy courses traditionally train children to become competent as practitioners who are capable of managing and treating a wide range of patients in a way that is safe and effective (Asghar 2010, p. 406).
• Formative Assessment uses the knowledge of results as instruction for future learning (Asghar 2010, p. 408).
• This strategy is the best to use for delivering and assessing learning in a health and social care environment as the learner will constantly get feedback and make changes, thus improving future performance.
• Barriers to Learning that May Be Encountered by Individuals in Health and Social Care Workplace
• As a learner features individuals with low skills, they may not be getting sufficient pay to also cater for further learning in the workplace.
• . Most learners, however, feel like they can engage in learning if the workplace offers them sufficient financial support (Gregory, Hopwood & Boud 2014, p. 203).
• Time is a barrier since most organizations have limited personnel.
• It becomes a challenge to give the low skilled employees some time off from their duties in the healthcare facility. Such a compromise cannot be made as the healthcare facility needs enough personnel to ensure that patient care quality is still high (Ley al. 2014, p. 1039).
• Although working in a larger organization presents a benefit for most employees, it also presents yet another barrier of de-motivation to pursue further learning. Such organizations need to rely solely on mentorship by identifying and choosing which areas need to be improved (Ley al. 2014, p. 1041).
• Some employers are afraid of using their resources to educate the employee only for him to move on to another healthcare system (Anderson & Thorpe 2014, p. 498).
• Two Methods of Identifying Individual Learning Needs
• The first method to be used in identifying individual learning needs is the SWOT Analysis. This method features a universal tool which can be used to identify gaps that need to be addressed in both an individual and an organization (‘SWOT Analysis’ 2010, p. 5).
• This method can enable an individual to gain clarity and hence, be able to set realistic objectives (Addams & Allred 2013, p. 45).
• to get a better look at learning gaps, it is important to have a different person help with the identification of strengths and weaknesses (Manzano-García & Ayala-Calvo 2014, p. 360).
• The goals, aims and objectives as well as the effort needed for one to attain goals are identified too (Addams & Allred 2013, p. 46).
• Strength refers to an individual’s strong points. In a health and social care setting, these can be; the ability to speak various languages, knowledge of how to use basic equipment, having attended and completed a course in health care, having worked in a healthcare organization previously, and so on (‘SWOT Analysis’ 2010, p. 7).
• Weakness refers to those things which a person lacks (‘SWOT Analysis’ 2010, p. 7). For instance, in healthcare, they can be; No previous working experience, no knowledge of equipments use, inability to communicate effectively with others, not able to work efficiently in a team of employees and many more.
• Opportunity refers to what a person can achieve, due to available resources (‘SWOT Analysis’ 2010, p. 8). For example, if a person is working in a healthcare setting where other employees can speak varying languages, then there is an opportunity for learning those languages through these employees. Working in a healthcare environment also presents an opportunity in itself since the learner can make use of the available resources to learn as others are working.
• Threat refers to the things which do not support learning (‘SWOT Analysis’ 2010, p. 8). In a healthcare organization, threat may be presented in terms of an unsupportive employer who does not want to give them time or financial support to learn. Therefore, if one gets caught trying to learn from others instead of sticking to his or her role, the result may be termination of employment.
• The next method will feature an assessment of the performance of an individual.
• The assessment can be conducted while a person is carrying out daily tasks, and will need the help of a supervisor (Shinn 2007, p. 610).
• This can be used to note whether a person knows how to interact with patients, how to use medical equipment, how to store patient information, and so on.
• The areas which the learner fails become the learning needs which must be developed to promote better performance.
• Two Different Approaches to Support Individual Learning Needs of Health and Social Care Workers
• The first approach that can be used to support the individual learning needs of Health and Social Care workers involves developing a close relationship between teacher and student, thus encouraging the continuous feedback.
• If the learner is not close to the teacher, it will become difficult for them to work side by side, which is what is required to promote effective learning for individuals in such a work organization (Gore, Forrester-Jones & Young 2014, p. 230).
• As a result of this, both will constantly learn from each other as they work together. The teacher must therefore, be willing to constantly offer feedback and correct the student.
• The second approach to be adapted is positive reinforcement.
• There are various ways through which this can be achieved. First, the organization can offer free learning, and give employees time off to pursue further learning (Fitzgerald, Moores, Coleman & Fleming 2015, p. 17).
• Second, the learners can be given a chance to choose for themselves, what they want to improve (Augustine-Shaw 2015, p. 23).
• Lastly, the organization can offer promotion or pay increases for all employees who will pursue their learning to the end.