On 27 Dec, Patrick Miller wrote: > While we're on the > subject of criticism, I've seldom been in an environment of constant > judging. Flying is something I do for fun and self fulfillment. Because of > the stage I'm up to I still have regular check flights which I find very > wearing. Perhaps it's the pressure I put myself under, but I think I've > developed instructor fatigue. Perhaps I need to discuss the aims of a check > flight more beforehand. But the constant judging and niggling criticism in > an atmosphere where the instructor has ultimate power over whether you fly > or not of is simply bad pedagogical technique. I won't even go into the > psychology of having the instructor behind you!
[Point of reference - I was a gliding instructor (but that was many years ago and in a different country, as the Bard says) and am now on the road to regaining that qualification, I hope. I am also an ex academic with about 12 years experience teaching predominantly mature students technically complex and challenging subjects. This experience has given me a point of view about adult learning, wether or not it is a useful one remains to be seen.] The process of adult learning is quite different from that of children (or even teenagers). In part this is because most adults will not simply accept information 'ex cathedra' but also because many adults have lost the skills of learning and these have to be relearnt along the way. Against this, in the gliding world, the people (generally adults) who are starting to learn are (again, generally) doing so because they want to: they are curious, motivated and eager to learn. Whilst the instructors I have experienced have been good (if not excellent), I believe that we are failing in areas illuminated in Patrick's post. In aviation, there is a 'meritocracy' approach: it does not matter who you are, only how well you fly. As this is fundamental to safe gliding, this is not something that I wish to see change, but it is radically different from the experience of most people (remember the Peter principle of incompetency :-). Those of us who have been knocking around in aviation for a while have absorbed this to the extent it is one of the given positions from which we operate: for newcomers, the repurcussions of this (constant assessment and criticism) must be quite a shock. So - how do we ensure that the meritocratic approach continues (as it is inherent to safe operations) and yet ensure that the criticism we give is constructive? I realise that this is something the GFA instructor's manual spends time addressing, but I believe that the 'people' skills side of the instructor training covered in the book is not given enough weight in the cockpit - or on the ground before and after training (which is of course where most instructor/student interaction takes place). It has been my experience teaching adults that they require at least as much if not more attention to their confidence than children teenagers in a learning situation. This is particularly the case where criticism is being given. There is a 'power' relationship implied in any learning situation and if that relationship is not handled/defused by the instructor, the student will walk away. A major part of that power is evidenced to the student in the cristicism being delivered. There are two things that I believe we should do... 1) Gliding clubs, like all organisations, have a culture - and this definitely includes the meritocratic approach noted above. Much of this is unspoken and people are expected to 'pick it up' as they go. For people who are at the club only one or two days a month this can be very hard (particularly if this is their forst foray into aviation). Not only is there a stream of names and faces to be learnt, they also have to be placed into the club gliding hierarchy, with many a potential embarassing possibility when you mistake the CFI for a fellow ab initio student! Then there's the incredible array of tasks to be conducted on the ground, all of which have special rituals and impact on safe operations and hence are a further minefield of potential emabrassment. We need to be more active about this - in much the same way and for exactly the same reasons that companies have an induction process for new staff. (And yes Brian, I have a first draft of the Caboolture Gliding Club Culture document about half done :-) 2) Instructor training needs to include more emphasis on the people skills required to assist adults to learn. In particular, there needs to be constant attention applied to ensuring that the giving of needed criticism is positive in intent and outcome. Perhaps this subject needs to be part of the annual checks that instructors are given? -- Robert Hart [EMAIL PROTECTED] Strategic IT & open source consulting +61 (0)438 385 533 Brisbane, Australia http://www.interweft.com.au -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
