Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

Manual 1:AN EDUCATOR’S GUIDERole-playWhat is role-play?Role-play is an active learning method that can generate considerableactivity and interaction among course participants. Essentially, courseparticipants are asked to act out a role in a particular workplace situation.The types of role-play most commonly used in workers’ education onoccupational health, safety and the environment are:interviewing, for example, a worker HS&E representative interviews aunion member with a health, safety and environment problemnegotiating, for example, worker HS&E representatives meet withmanagement to negotiate about a health and safety issuetaking part in a meeting, for example, a group of worker HS&Erepresentatives meet to discuss and suggest action to tackle a healthand safety problemWhy use role-play?Educators use role-play because: it is an active method it is a way of developing the skills of course participants (for example,preparing and presenting an argument) it helps to build the confidence of participants it can be a useful way of finding out how not to deal with a situation!it can provide insights into patterns of behaviour and how people relateto each otherit can provide the opportunity to act out a different role (for example,the role of a member with a safety problem, or the role of a manager)it can be used to develop co-operative working methods, particularlyteamwork in negotiations with managementHow is role-play set up?The setting for a role-play and the allocation of roles will depend upon thetype of exercise being set up. For example, an interviewing exercise couldbe set up using groups of three: UNION MEMBER UNION REPRESENTATIVE OBSERVERA role-play based upon a negotiation could be set up using groups of five: 2 UNION MEMBERS 2 MANAGERS OBSERVER24 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers