What do I need to do to do well here:
- Consider your teaching options based on how your pupil learns best
We must understand that everyone learns differently and that it is our job to identify our clients learning needs and preferences and then adapt our teaching style to suit them depending on their overall learning preference, their preference for a particular task or what might best suit their current ability. Whether it be a talk-through, a demonstration, guiding a pupil through structured notes or letting them get on with it. Our role is to provide our clients with learning programs that fit their individual needs on any given day and which also keep the car safe.
2. Consider their current ability.
We must also adjust our teaching style to incorporate the level of support our clients will require during practise, especially in the early stages and in reflection to help them get as much from their learning as possible. You should make plans for how you can best provide this and gain agreement with your pupil that this support method will benefit them during practise and reflection times. Whilst guided instruction can be beneficial to early learning and to keep the car safe, not every learner is capable of performing to their maximum whilst having their attention divided through multiple sensory channels. In this case, it might be better to demonstrate the manoeuvre yourself and talk them through it before letting them have a go, ensuring that they are aware of your role in keeping the car safe. You might consider giving them a platform for practise in the early stages that don’t require any input from the instructor except to keep the car safe, a quiet industrial area, carpark or housing estate can ensure a kinesthetic learner can continue in their own preferred learning style, instead of having to adapt to the instructors teaching style. Divide the responsibilities in such a way that it allows your client to process information in their most effective manner, then adapt if it becomes evident that they are not achieving their goal.
3. Adapt ( GROW)
Adopting and incorporating the GROW coaching model into your lessons can be an effective way of planning strategies that allow for adaptation
G- Goals. which should always be smart
R- Reality. Where am I currently? What skills and knowledge have I got that I can transfer?
O- Options. What options do I have that will enable me to achieve my goal, how many ways are there that could be effective for me?
W- Way forward. How will I progress, what option will I try first and which option will I choose next if the first is unsuccessful?
In this way, you can allow your pupil to explore a range of options that can be adjusted, adapted and considered before and throughout the session. Keeping the client responsible for the learning and allowing them to explore and create strategies for their personal development.
As such Coaching and Client Centred Learning are much more than Q&A. It’s facilitating learning from within the client, understanding that we’re all products of our own experiences and as such we will all have individual starting points, beliefs and motivations around what it is we are learning. We all process information differently. Coaching is about moulding to the learning needs and preferences of the client. creating responsibility for the task and ensuring that any learning experience is centred around, not only the physical act and the knowledge necessary to perform the task but also the thoughts and feelings that will motivate the behaviour in the longer term.