Now, if you re-read the last paragraph ignoring the sports context, as if I were describing me as a school teacher, college lecturer, parent, business owner, NVQ assessor, business mentor, personal development coach, NLP trainer, consultant, industry trainer ... you might begin to realise that the title we give our educators doesn't matter nearly so much as what you are doing. The other point worth making here is that we all get better at the things we regularly practise until we finally embed learning at a deep-structure (unconscious) level. This could be learning gymnastics or a complicated maths formula.
As you may have already realised, there are many names for people who educate: teachers, trainers, coaches, lecturers, instructors, mentors, assessors, advisors, parents ... and having worked in each of those categories, I generally seem to be have been doing much the same job, i.e. whatever it takes to get the learner to become competent, remain competent and then progress through competence.
I'm currently involved in the training of industry trainers through a National Skills Academy for Manufacturing (NSA-M) project entitled Advanced Learning Practices (ALPs), put together by the Director of Education for the Society of NLP Kate Benson (www.meta4education.co.uk).
Kate's pioneering work demonstrates that for every person in a class/training/staff room, there is an individual learning style craving attention. And if we want better results, we must walk the talk of cutting-edge psychologies, theory, and practices and use 21st Century technologies.
The good news is that initiatives like ALPs incubate an exciting generation of industry trainers who can actually engage the multiple learning demands of any group, including those ‘failed' by traditional systems. And this may hold a key to our future economic success in the shape of a faster learning and better skilled industry.
The more we celebrate the successes of accelerated learning programmes, the more we can make all learning bigger, easier and faster.
Back to sport, where coaching the mind in tandem with the body is key to sporting excellence and, following Team GB's Olympic medal haul, you won't be surprised to learn that many Olympic coaches are now skilled in NLP. They use techniques like creative visualisation, guiding athletes into deeply relaxed states where ‘future memories' of success are embedded into their timelines. This blueprint for future success is rehearsed in the present until it (the mindset of success) becomes automatic thinking and self belief and balances the physical competences.
Mind coaching is about discovering how your neurology works best for you within your own unique framework of values and competencies, and it contributes to the successes of some of the world's most successful men and women in both sports and business. So how come the ‘inner game' of success in education remains largely untouched? I'm left wondering about the horse having bolted... because if you don't direct your brain, someone or something else will.
In America, the University of Alabama-Huntsville has just launched a ‘Super Teaching - Learning at the Speed of Light' programme in an effort to boost academic performance. After decades of study into how the human brain adapts to new information, interactive classrooms with three-screen visuals complementing live instruction are now being trialled. Perhaps this is the higher tech version of what we are delivering in accelerated learning programmes here in the UK. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.
The other day I came across an online job advert for a student support worker; ‘you will be a facilitator, not mentor' it read.
This raised a question in my mind; how do you facilitate learning without playing mentor?
Yesterday I met with an entrepreneur who is about to launch sensory-based learning downloads for GCSE revision through iPods. You can imagine how cool that will be!
Today I've just checked out two exciting educational websites: Mind42 & RecallPlus - worth taking a look at!
Tomorrow I'll be back at the coalface where I for one, as a teacher, trainer, coach, lecturer, instructor, mentor, assessor, consultant, advisor, and parent ... love the results!
©Kay Cooke 2008