Instructor Training!!

[sensei8]

Please check out this link first before we begin our discussion...

http://www.jka.or.jp/english/karate/qualific.html

YOU in this topic speaks about you. While "YOU" in this topic speaks about your styles Headquarters.

How would YOU say that your school differs that of the JKA?

I'm not expecting any school/Headquarters to want to mimic the JKA because I'm sure what "YOU" have available is quite fine, and more than likely, what "YOU" have equals and/or outweighs the JKA, possibly.

Should only said karateka's Sensei define and mold them in the field of teaching?

OR...

Should only said karateka's Hombu define and mold them in the field of teaching?

OR...

Should the field of teaching said karateka to be an instructor be a joint collaboration between the Sensei AND the Hombu?

Your thoughts?

[ps1]

This is a great topic; and one on which I have very strong opinions. I've always felt, and believe it's widely accepted, that being good at karate does not make one good at teaching karate. To that end, I've always felt instructor training courses added a sense of validity and quality to said instructors. However, I feel a better course of action for these large organizations would be to offer scholarships that would help pay for a degree in education. Once a student completes his/her degree, it would then be for the Hombu to set the standards of content and have further instructor training courses for the prospective teacher to complete. Once the courses are complete, the Hombu would assist in placing that instructor in an area that is likely to have good growth for the school. While each individual Sensei is responsible for what is taught in their dojo; it's ultimately up to the Hombu to set the standards for advancement in the art.

IMO, this way of doing things would increase the skill sets of the individual instructors and bring even greater credibility to their art.

[sensei8]

While I'm on the side of....Not all black belts can teach because it's true....not all black belts can teach....and shouldn't!

What any Hombu, large or small, should not do is graduate someone from the Instructor Training Course who doesn't possess not one iota of teaching ability. This is the time to act, during the course, not after. The Hombu should spot an Instructor candidate that's not cutting the mustard because the Hombu is suppose to be closely monitoring each and every candidate from day one. It doesn't take all to many days to discover those candidates that aren't all that and a bag of chips in the instructor ability area. In that, drop them from the course just as soon as it's duly noted.

Sad thing is that many Hombu's DON'T drop those said Instructor candidates from the course, no, they pass them anyway for some reason or another.

I say drop them like a bad habit without any hesitation! For those Hombu's who don't, I'm sure these Hombu's also just give black belts away like it's Christmas without any thought whatsoever.

[Jeffrey]

My thought is the field of teaching said karateka to be an instructor be a joint collaboration between the Sensei AND the Hombu. Come to think of it I will make a new thread and hopefully generate some ideas of how we teach.