Establishing ground rules with your learners, whether in a group or a one to one basis will help underpin appropriate behaviour and respect throughout their time with you, and help the sessions run smoothly.

Ground rules are boundaries and rules to help create suitable conditions within which learners (and yourself) can safely work and learn. If they are not set, problems may occur which could disrupt the session.

It’s best to agree the ground rules during the first meeting, perhaps after an icebreaker once everyone is feeling more relaxed. Ground rules should always be discussed and negotiated with your learners rather than forced upon them.

Using an activity to do this will help learners feel included, take ownership of, and hopefully follow them. Some ground rules might be renegotiated or added to throughout the programme; for example, changing the agreed break time.

Others might be non-negotiable: for example, health and safety requirements. These might already be listed in a learner handbook, agreement or learner contract and you would need to ensure all learners have a copy, and know that they are in addition to the ground rules.

When establishing ground rules, you need to have an idea of what will be non-negotiable, and what can be negotiable.