Instructor training

[DWx]

Interesting responses so far guys

Even if you are doing OJT, do you break it down into different methods for explaining techniques to students and how they should go about correcting mistakes?

[DWx]

How does your school or association train instructors?

Do you have a formal programme to train people to teach or do new instructors learn on the job?

Great question! Thanks, Danielle!

Instructors within Shindokan are chosen by the individual dojo's, alas, by the designated CI of those individual dojo's, and this takes place at Sankyu, and no sooner. Therefore, it's all OJT!!

The Hombu does have remedial classes for designated instructors! It's held twice a year, usually in the 1st and 3rd quarter. These classes are 1 month in duration, and they're administered by the CI of the SKKA, which is currently our Kancho, Greg Forsythe, who's a Hachidan as well as Hanshi. All designated instructors within the SKKA network are welcomed to attend, however, they must remain in house at the Hombu for that full month that the classes are in session. If not, they receive a "Drop" on their Hard Card, but this is more clerical than administrative; said instructor is always welcomed back without questions.

I choose my instructors, and I demand that my instructors attend the remedial classes at the Hombu every two years. I hold "Pep" classes with my instructors daily, and I hold "101" classes once every quarter.

Bob, sounds like a great idea to get the instructors together, if only for knowledge sharing and discussion Are these lessons instruction in how to teach or purely correction of their own technique?

[DWx]

My current org doesn't have any codified methodology to training instructors. In our school, 1st dans earn the responsibility of teaching teaching orientations, and 3rd dans over the age of 18 should be instructing classes. Unfortunately, there really isn't a process for bridging those gaps.

One thing I'll say about the ATA is that they have a great instructor development program. They have various levels, like junior trainees for those under 18 that want to help with classes, trainee instructors, who stand at the head of a class with a head instructor and actively work the room to help with warm-ups, technique, etc. As an instructor trainee, the head instructor also logs the hours spent assisting in classes, and a trainee must accumulate a required number of hours (1900 last I checked) in order to apply for instructor certification. Once they meet the hours and the rest of the requirements, a trainee becomes eligible to attend instructor certification camp at the org HQ in Little Rock, AR.

Say what you will about the ATA but it seems like they have some great programmes for prospective instructors and a great support network for new schools.

[sensei8]

How does your school or association train instructors?

Do you have a formal programme to train people to teach or do new instructors learn on the job?

Great question! Thanks, Danielle!

Instructors within Shindokan are chosen by the individual dojo's, alas, by the designated CI of those individual dojo's, and this takes place at Sankyu, and no sooner. Therefore, it's all OJT!!

The Hombu does have remedial classes for designated instructors! It's held twice a year, usually in the 1st and 3rd quarter. These classes are 1 month in duration, and they're administered by the CI of the SKKA, which is currently our Kancho, Greg Forsythe, who's a Hachidan as well as Hanshi. All designated instructors within the SKKA network are welcomed to attend, however, they must remain in house at the Hombu for that full month that the classes are in session. If not, they receive a "Drop" on their Hard Card, but this is more clerical than administrative; said instructor is always welcomed back without questions.

I choose my instructors, and I demand that my instructors attend the remedial classes at the Hombu every two years. I hold "Pep" classes with my instructors daily, and I hold "101" classes once every quarter.

Bob, sounds like a great idea to get the instructors together, if only for knowledge sharing and discussion Are these lessons instruction in how to teach or purely correction of their own technique?

How to teach, nonetheless, correction of their techniques happen due to the nature of teaching; hand in hand.

[sarah]

We have quarterly short courses for instructors and assistant instructors.

1st course is on how to teach basics up to a first grading. 2nd course is on kicking, 3rd on forms, 4th concerns child protection, legal issues and more detailed discussion about teaching and running a club.

In order to be a registered instructor, you have to be a black belt and attend all 4 courses regularly. That way we ensure consistency of teaching between clubs and have an opportunity to ask questions and support each other.

Senior students are expected to assist with teaching in class and encouraged to attend the 1st, 2nd and 3rd courses.

In addition, adult students have a requirement to both fight and referee in competition before reaching black belt.

[Nidan Melbourne]

We have quarterly short courses for instructors and assistant instructors.

1st course is on how to teach basics up to a first grading. 2nd course is on kicking, 3rd on forms, 4th concerns child protection, legal issues and more detailed discussion about teaching and running a club.

In order to be a registered instructor, you have to be a black belt and attend all 4 courses regularly. That way we ensure consistency of teaching between clubs and have an opportunity to ask questions and support each other.

Senior students are expected to assist with teaching in class and encouraged to attend the 1st, 2nd and 3rd courses.

In addition, adult students have a requirement to both fight and referee in competition before reaching black belt.

That is an interesting way of organising and training all instructors. Who is the person teaching each of the courses? As in the Headmaster (Chief Instructor/Owner/whatever you call it) or the head of your organisation?

I agree in having uniformity in teaching is important but in addition those sessions do you actively train instructors during class.

But why do you not also have a course on teaching kumite?

I ask because i have recently help set up a club that has decided to do such a thing to ensure that instructors are aware of standards and what to expect. They are either on Basics, kata, pre-arranged sparring and sparring. Whilst the senior instructors are required to attend seminars on managing classes whilst the C.I. is absent

[sarah]

Our association is run by a 9th Dan Grandmaster. He teaches all the courses, including the referee course. He also conducts gradings and is sparring coach for a national team.

We have several multi-day sparring courses during the year that any students can attend, either run by our Grandmaster or a visiting Korean Master. They are all practical training and there is not a formal teaching element. I hadn't really thought about that before, but I guess the assumption is that if we train and compete ourselves, and know the rules, it is assumed that is sufficient to then teach. Regular participation in competition by your students ought to let you know if you are teaching them well, I suppose!

We do give a lot of informal training to our assistants in class and they must attend all 4 formal courses before being allowed to instruct on their own. It is a balance of needing to give them exposure and needing to make sure your students learn everything they need to.

We don't yet have any children who are senior enough to assist formally (I only started teaching children a couple of years ago and learnt myself in an adults-only club). What do others do with their senior children and allowing them responsibility?

[ashworth]

My club is still relatively new, but one of my very first students I am currently training up to be an instructor, as he will be my first one, I'm not exactly running a course for him, just have one on one sessions every week, training him how to spot mistakes, how to correct them, and just the general aspects of teaching a martial art class. He also assists me in our current classes, often taking small groups in the class, soon I'm going to let him loose with running a complete class while I watch. I have been doing this with him for over a year now, its more like a apprenticeship type of thing that we are doing.

[GojuRyu Bahrain]

In my original federation (German Karate Federation, Goju Ryu) we have several levels of official coaching certifications, and are expected to visit regional or national workshops once in a while. However, a lot of the actual learning to be a teacher happens on-the-job for senior students. The highest Kyu ranked student usually leads the warm up, but the Karate part of the class is led by an instructor. It seems quite common that the higher Dan ranks have some kind of teaching schedule, i.e., Mon.+Sat. by CI, Wed. by Black Belt X, Fri. by Blackbelt Y and so on. Often one class per week is for senior members (brown and black, or black only) for calibration and alignment.

[Nidan Melbourne]

In my original federation (German Karate Federation, Goju Ryu) we have several levels of official coaching certifications, and are expected to visit regional or national workshops once in a while. However, a lot of the actual learning to be a teacher happens on-the-job for senior students. The highest Kyu ranked student usually leads the warm up, but the Karate part of the class is led by an instructor. It seems quite common that the higher Dan ranks have some kind of teaching schedule, i.e., Mon.+Sat. by CI, Wed. by Black Belt X, Fri. by Blackbelt Y and so on. Often one class per week is for senior members (brown and black, or black only) for calibration and alignment.

I know many National Federations do this where they run Courses to give accreditation to instructors to show that the particular instructor has some form of formal qualifications etc.

I know at my dojo like in the 2nd half of what you said, we have my CI run weekday Classes and I run the saturday Classes. For our actual classes themselves on a Wednesday evening we run a normal class for White to Blue Belts (3rd Kyu), but after that we run a Brown (2nd Kyu) + Black Belt only Class where we can do our curriculum and focus on the quality of technique.