East of England

Speaker Code of Conduct

When commissioning educational activity, East of England School of Dentistry feel it is essential that we use educators who possess the ability to enhance the skills, values, and behaviours of the entire dental team. It is equally important that educators can work with the School and Trust teams in an effective and respectful way. To achieve this goal East of England expect educators to demonstrate consistently high standards of personal and professional conduct.

NHSE WT&D standards

NHS England Workforce Training and Education Directorate as an organisation has strict guidance policies about equality and diversity, respect, and inclusion, therefore we would ask you to show respect to all staff that support you and all delegates in terms of their opinions, cultural differences, and behaviour. When arranging educational sessions, please work in a respectful and effective way with the members of the NHS England WT&E and Trust teams with whom you interact. Please maintain a professional manner and do not use inappropriate language at any time either with the teams that support you or the delegates of the session. When planning educational sessions, please think carefully about your audience and how to engage them with the course content. Choose language that is appropriate to their learning needs, and try to avoid jargon, acronyms, and abbreviations.

• If you have declared any conflicts of interest, we encourage you to mention these during your talk if they are relevant to the topic.
• If you think your delivery of the topic is likely to have controversial or emotive content, please email the relevant team at NHS ENgland WT&E in advance of the course to discuss this:
• Dental Workforce Development england.dental.eoe@nhs.net
• Dental Foundation Training england.dft.eoe@nhs.net
• Dental Core Training england.dental.eoe@nhs.net

Personal & Professional Conduct

Educators should uphold public & professional trust and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, by:

• treating NHSE WT&D staff, Trust staff and delegates with dignity; building relationships rooted in mutual respect; and always observing proper professional boundaries
• showing tolerance of and respect for the rights of others
• showing tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
• ensuring that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit, abuse or undermine delegates

Educators must have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of NHS England WT&E, COPDEND and the GDC. Educators must understand, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities.

Guide to Inclusive Teaching

Who are your delegates?

• Do your delegates include speakers of English as a second language? They may need time to adapt to and assimilate your lecture delivery.
• Remember that delegates come from varied cultural and educational backgrounds.
• Some delegates may find it particularly difficult to receive information presented orally. This includes not only delegates with a hearing impairment, but also those whose first language is not English, those on medication and those with short term memory problems.

Your language

• Will you use plain language, avoiding jargon and colloquialisms?
• Avoid blasphemy and language that might offend.
• Beware of humour that is based on discrimination.
• Remember that all your audience are unlikely to share your own culture and beliefs.
• Avoid derogatory comments about other cultures.

Your content

• Do your examples (including any graphics) reflect the broad range of society in a positive way, avoiding stereotyping and bias?
• Are your examples/illustrations/language universally understood or are they dependent on knowledge of a specific background or culture?

Structure of your session

• Be aware that delegates may need to arrive late/leave early e.g. for reasons related to their disability, medical condition, religious beliefs, or caring responsibilities.
• Be aware of the time of year and day when the lecture is held e.g. is it Ramadan (when students may be fasting all day), Eid, Diwali, Chinese New Year, the Jewish Sabbath, time for Muslim Friday prayer, or any other religious festival.
• Take things slowly at the start of the session. Delegates who speak English as a second language may take a little while to get used to your delivery.

Check on visibility and audibility

• Is your face and expression clearly visible at all times? e.g. Deaf delegates will not be able to lipread if you turn your back and continue speaking while writing on the board. If you darken the room to show a video, can students still take notes? If you are online is your face in shadow?
• Check whether everyone can hear you, especially in an unfamiliar room.

Questions

• Check understanding when you invite questions. Try “There are probably one or two things you will want to clarify. Any questions?”
• Repeat questions so that all can hear. 

Guidance & Resources