Client Centered Learning
Without a doubt, I believe pupils need a bit of both!
They both have a place in the training learner drivers.
There will be times when client centered learning is vital, but in as much a way that teaching your learners will require as much attention.
It has been proven that "Coaching" learners tends to work better. The reasoning behind this is that it engages them far more with the learning process and makes them think.
It is extremely easy to sit there blasting out instructions to a pupil about what they should do, what they did wrong, how they can do things differently or how you think they should do it differently. But by coaching instead of teaching, you will find that your pupils will learn quicker, enable you to understand their understanding, and also get to realise they know more than you think they know.
By engaging your pupil's in the learning process and using effective questions, you will find that nine times out of ten your pupil will be able to work out the answer to something that might not have been going so well and how they could change just one thing to make that process simpler.
This is not to say you should not fill in the gaps within their knowledge, but by allowing them time to reflect on what worked and what didn't and how they could do things differently to make things work, this not only allows you to take a step back a little, but also allows them to build on whatever current knowledge they have and let you know what they understand and what they don't.
Consider this!
You take on a new pupil and on day one they enter your car and you sit there and then say "get on with it then"!
What is your pupil going to do?
They are going to look at you and think "you're the instructor you tell me!"
But that doesn't mean Client Centered Learning can't start from day one by asking your pupil what they know about a car.
They may know absolutely nothing, but they may surprise you and be able to fill you in on virtually everything there is to know about the car.
If we just assume they know nothing, and bore them to tears taking about what pedal does what, how to set themselves up in the seat, setting up the mirrors etc, they will get bored stiff and feel that they have not achieved much by the end of that lesson.
It may be that they have driven a car before but didn't want to mention it, especially if they have just turned 17 and they possibly shouldn't have had any opportunity to drive a car legally.
That's not to say they haven't had an under 17's experience somewhere, or live on private land that has the facility to drive a vehicle on it.
So NEVER assume you know all the answers.
Find out what your learner knows first.
Fill in the gaps of any missing knowledge, or correct misinformation or understandings.
Once you set the margin from day one, your pupil will understand how future lessons will progress and that you are not going to treat them with contempt that they know nothing.
Set up a learning environment that puts you both on the same level.
Having an "I know everything and you know nothing" attitude will not go down well with many pupils.
They understand you have experience and knowledge, but that does not need to be rammed down their throats.
Express to them that you want to be able to utilise your lessons with them to give them as much skill as they can possibly gain in your time together.
Express that no question is a stupid question, and that the more they ask the easier it is for you to understand their knowledge and that it will help you to assist them. Reassure them aware that it's ok to make mistakes and that is why you are there to keep them safe and to build their skills so that those mistake become less and less.
Build a rapport with them so they feel they can ask and answer questions without feeling judged.
On the other hand you may find you have a pupil that needs information on everything, especially to start with.
Hopefully, as your lessons with these pupils progress you will be able to turn that teaching style into a coaching style client centered learning mode.
Their knowledge will grow and you will find that you will be able to ask them questions that you will get answers to. This will allow you to know that they have a good understanding of that particular subject.
The more they know, and you know they know it, the better prepared they will be for a future of driving.
One of the biggest areas where driving instructor fall down, is that they never give their learners enough time to come up with finding an answer for themselves. They jump in way too early without possibly rewording the questions to the pupil to change their thought process.
Sometimes the way a question is asked can confuse they learner and they are not sure of what it is your are asking. By rewording the question it may make them think of the answer you are looking for.
By not rewording and just jumping in with the answer, you have taken away the pupils chance to work out the answer for themselves.
Give them time! reword questions to them, and then if they still cannot find an answer then help them, but possibly in a way that makes them think again about what it is you have been asking but to give them a chance to think of other information that may be important.
Coaching is a skill that engages your pupil to work things out for themselves, and build on what knowledge they current have to improve on that particular subject.
On your first lesson with your pupil and in an attempt to start building a rapport with your pupil, you may ask them what their hobbies and interests are.
Based on their response and by your own intuition you may be able to gauge from this how they might learn best.
Adapting your teaching style to suit your pupils may take a little time but once you have found what works best for them you will tend to stick with it, but always be prepared to adapt that style if it is necessary.
If you find that the manner in which you are delivering the lesson is making no difference to the outcome of the task in hand, then the teaching style you are using is probably not working and will require you to try something different.
This may mean offering a demonstration, using visual aids, dry wipe board, a video, of whatever other tools you may have to hand to assist your pupil.
Client Centered is about getting your pupils thinking and finding answers rather than you supplying them.
Obviously, there are going to be times when the knowledge will just not be there, and this is where you can teach.
But as your lessons progress, the will be previous skills learnt that you can reflect on to implement into the new tasks.
By linking all the previously learnt skills into the new tasks you are allowing your pupils to cement the knowledge they already have, into new situations and experiences, and they will get to learn that most of it is very very similar, it's just the situations that change.
Client Centered learning will without a doubt create skills with your learner that will last them a lifetime of driving.
The way people learn and how they retain information will depend mainly on how they learn it.
As a guide:
When people watch presentations then will tend on average to remember 50% of what they hear immediately after that presentation, 25% the next day, and 10% a week later.
The way people learn and how they retain information will depend mainly on how they learn it.
As a guide:
When people watch presentations then will tend on average to remember 50% of what they hear immediately after that presentation, 25% the next day, and 10% a week later.
Demonstrations: People retain 30% of what they learn when they see a demonstration.
Audio-visual: People retain 20% of what they learn from audio-visual.
Reading: People retain 10% of what they learn from reading.
So you have to think about how we grow on that retention rate.
If someone retains 10% from reading a book, if they read that book again, potentially they will retain an additional 10%?
But do they actually retain an additional 10% or do they just cement the 10% they already knew from the 1st time they read the book?
Statistically the more they read the book, the more naturally they will retain additional information.
Think about your days as a trainee instructor.
I bet you went through the Highway Code Book or the Know Your Traffic Signs Book numerous times before all the information began to sink in and cement itself in your brain. But you'll know that you don't know it all from memory and there will without a doubt be times when you will need to refer back to these books to clarify what you know or what you think you know.
This will be no different for your pupils with every aspect of their learning to drive.
They will retain a certain amount of information from week to week but they will also forget some of it.
This is why repetition is so important.
But it's also important to get your pupils to answer your questions rather than you jumping in with an answer.
If they can give the answer, you'll know that the information has stuck in their memory banks.
If you are constantly giving the answers, how will you know your pupil has retained that information?
An easy analogy of how we retain information.
Just imagine filling a beaker with water.
On the first attempt at filling it you realise it has a hole in and the beaker only retains 10% of the water.
Just after filling it once, you are not going to try filling it again as you know it will still only retain 10% of the water the next time.
So before attempting to fill it, you block the area where the hole is, and if you couldn't fix the hole you'd ditch the beaker and find another one.
This is itself the easy way to think about your learner and their learning experiences.
You discuss a goal with them of what they want to achieve by the end of the lesson.
They have a go and maybe it works and maybe it doesn't.
But if it doesn't you'll need to work with them to find a solution.
Now, driving is probably a little harder to resolve than finding another beaker, but the core principle is going to be the same.
A discussion on what went wrong, what could be done to resolve the problem from happening again, making some changes and then having another go so see if what you changed works or doesn't is exactly how your pupil is going to learn how to adapt their driving style, their techniques, and to plan for future eventualities that may happen. They are learning a skill to be able to adapt their driving to suit certain situations and how to avoid certain situations from happening in the first place.
Lets just go back to the beaker!
So, your pupil has grabbed the beaker, filled it once and realised it will only hold 10% of the water in it.
You discuss with them what they can do to resolve the situation.
Example pupil 1. You are going to get those who will say, "throw it in the bin and get a new one"
Example pupil 2. You will get those that say "let's put some tape over the hole and try again"
Example pupil 3. You might get those who will say "I dunno"
Our roles as instructors are to use our skillsets to work with our pupils to get them to find an answer.
How might you respond to all 3 different pupils?
You might respond to pupil 1, having seen the hole in the beaker, that it is past a useable condition and it makes sense to discard it and get a new one.
You might respond to pupil 2. by saying that they can give it a go and see what happens.
You might respond to pupil 3. To explain what they don't know about "I dunno" or what maybe they do know about "I dunno"
it's surprising how asking someone what they don't know about I dunno will bring back more information from that pupil.
It could be so easy to just fill in the gaps and give them an answer, but give them time to think about what they don't know, and you'll be surprised with the outcome.
Going back to pupil 2, Their idea to patch up the hole and have another go is a perfect way to think about what we do as instructors. We get the pupil a new goal to achieve and it doesn't always work first time. So we discuss it, find out what we could do to address the situation, and then have another go.
Pupil 2 by patching up the beaker realises that the beaker now holds more water but still isn't sufficient enough to keep it full, but it has made progress in keeping more water in it.
They could either consider trying to patch it up even more and haver another go, or they could concede that they need a new beaker.
What they have realised more than anything else, is that something needed to change to gain a full result. In this case it was a new beaker was required.
In driving terms, it may mean that the method they are trying is getting better at it and a few more attempts may be needed to perfect it, or it may mean that the method being used to try and achieve a good outcome need to change as the one being used isn't working.
This is where we need to consider when we adapt a lesson.
But by working with your pupil, you will find a satisfactory outcome in the end.
Engaging all the time with your pupil and getting them to understand what needs to change is all a part of delivering a Client Centered Lesson.
Some people use what is called the learning pyramid, and it looks like this.
You'll need to build a good rapport with your pupils, and with this rapport, should come trust.
If you pupils trust you they will be more engaged with you.
Trust comes in many forms.
Your time keeping (if you are always late, or not supplying the length of time for the lesson for what you are charging)
The condition of your car (constantly breaking down is not going to build trust)
Your knowledge (Do you know your stuff, or are you constantly having to look through books or get back to your pupil at a later date with an answer)
Are you actively listening to your pupil or do you talk over them?
Is it your way or no way. do you actively take on board your pupils perspective?
Are you non discriminatory?
One of the biggest trust builder questions to a lesson is to ask your pupils
HOW CAN I ASSIST YOU TODAY?
This will show your pupil that you are putting them at the forefront of their learning and that you are prepared to listen and build a lesson plan based around their needs.
Obviously, the building of trust with them will go straight out of the window if you then listen to them and then continue to do something totally different to their needs.
Now this is not to say that it would be safe to do what your pupil is asking, so it is therefore your responsibility to discuss and create questions that will allow your pupil to see the interim steps that may need to be taken before you could actually get the the goal they have initially tried to make.
Use bite sized chunks and work on them first, it's easier to do this than trying to consume the whole meal in one.
