The external verifier was in during the morning, essentially to verify the course as much as view the work that was likely to be submitted. Having her present was very useful as it allowed us to get another take on how to evidence some of the requirements for the assignments.

Whilst the other student instructor was out having his instructional ability validated I went through my portfolio with the verifier and my teacher instructor and then on their return it was my turn for assessment.

The client was a 19 year old rider who had passed his 125cc test and had been presented with a brand new bike as a present from his mother. He had been presented with a day’s training as part of the deal for being allowed to ride the bike. The rider seemed enthusiastic and I neglected to push his attitude towards the training as he seemed to be keen. My briefing covered the controls in more depth than usual as the rider hadn’t had a chance to read the manual or get to grips with the bike at all yet. He was looking to use the bike to travel to and from college and was hoping to take his boyfriend pillion at some stage. We discussed the issues around riding with a pillion: where to hold on, having to lean, the need to be smooth and in control. My teacher instructor later pointed out that my choice of phrase, “Your partner may wish to reach around and brace against the tank” could have been taken out of context and considered rude. Definite ‘note to self’ moment as although the innuendo was entirely accidental I could definitely see the potential pitfalls.

Out on the road the client was a bit wobbly to start with but nothing dangerous, just a little unease as they got to grips with an unknown bike. Within a couple of miles it became apparent that the rider was either indicating a little late or wasn’t indicating for lane changes. Drawing on what the teacher instructor had told me the previous day I tried not to pick up on the fault as it occurred and waited for the next planned lane change then advised the client over the radio to apply the indicator before changing lane. Around this moment I also decided it would be a good idea to provide some more commentary on the upcoming hazards that we were likely to come across, further to my advice from the previous day. This proved to be my downfall as the rider was actually riding really very well and there I was telling them what they were about to do anyway. I praised the rider on his approach to limits and observations but was struggling for things to identify in terms of riding. For want of something to pick up on I identified what seemed to be an extraneous use of right indicator while we were stationary at a set of traffic lights. At a convenient moment we stopped for a brief chat. As I talked about the use of indicators for changing lanes and distance from parked cars it seemed the rider was very aware of concepts from advanced riding. I asked what his boyfriend did for a living, at which point he informed me that his boyfriend was a police motorcyclist. Okay, now I get where this is going I think to myself and don’t I feel a fool.

The ride back was smooth and controlled, the earlier wobbles had long gone (long before the first stop, in honesty) and the ride was of a very high standard. I questioned a courtesy stop for turning traffic but not in a critical way, more to question the effect on following vehicles (the van that was behind me at the time). Again, I made use of the radio to pick up on a couple of advanced observations but tried to allow the rider the space to make his own decisions.

As we arrived back at the centre I felt thoroughly demoralised. I was certain that I had really messed things up and really struggled with my initial, “So how was the ride for you…?” As we took ‘hats off’ to discuss the learning from the exercise my teacher instructor was absolutely clear that he had delivered a police standard ride, with the exception of the indicators for lane change. My desire to provide the rider with input had neglected the fact that this rider really needed very little and what they could really have used was a gentle push in the direction of an advanced riding group or similar.

My teacher instructor informed me then and there that despite these issues I had passed the course and passed the test of instructional ability but despite this information I felt no relief – I knew that I could have done more by doing less. I had taken on board my lesson of the previous day with enthusiasm and gusto – “Make more use of the radio as a teaching tool, make it relevant, make it about the things that are coming up rather than the things that have already happened”. I had neglected to make it relevant to the individual rider’s needs: this particular rider just needed some praise and encouragement and a smiling face suggesting that his riding was bloody good and he really ought to go along to some advanced training and take his boyfriend with him.

Writing these last few paragraphs in the journal has been the hardest part of putting finger to keyboard of the whole week. Reliving those past few paragraphs for the purposes of remembering and immortalising them in text has brought back the sickness in the stomach of knowing how wrong it felt, the knowledge I’d misjudged it. Yet, writing it down has served to clarify in my own mind how to avoid the situation in the future and now I can sit in some Zen like calm feeling before I go and grab a glass of wine to celebrate the end of a long hard week.

The rest of the day turned into a blur and there was no time to commiserate my feelings: we had to prepare and deliver the microteach. We spent a few hours pressed up against our keyboards as both student teachers opted for the ICT solution and powerpoint as a tool for back-up.

We only had to prepare a 15 minute session but the intention was to cram it full of everything you possibly could to evidence your learning.

My colleague delivered a very informative session on collision investigation and motorcycle collisions in the Avon and Somerset area. I opted for a controversial session on the use of brakes on a motorcycle, focussing on whether we should really just completely abandon the rear brake in an emergency and focus on the front. I incorporated visual, auditory and kinaesthetic elements to appeal to all learning styles and the controversial nature of the presentation definitely came across as the assertive questioning brought out some strong opinions. Delivery felt smooth and I felt that I engaged with the audience on the right level, without talking down to them. The material was not preachy, but informative about different approaches in an area that we all had a great degree of prior knowledge of.

Having finished delivery we had to wrap up and close the course in a bit of a hurry. I definitely feel that there needs to be the opportunity to have a debrief style session at the end, time permitting.

Whilst the course may have finished I still have some assignments to complete for the PTLLS elements and so the learning journal doesn’t end here.

We started with a brief summary of how far we’ve come and what more needs to be achieved by the end of day 5. Both student instructors and one of the teacher instructors are daunted by the microteach task. I suspect that because the concept is relatively alien to my two colleagues that this is the area they harbour more concern for as I definitely don’t seem to be as apprehensive about it as they do. By contrast the analysis of riding faults is second nature to them and they are extremely good at it.

We videoed the rider risk reduction briefing and controls, which we watched back later in the day. I was surprised to see how much I was using my hands during the conversation but was overall pleased that I had dealt well with the client. I also picked up a few more useful tips from my colleague.

My rider on this occasion was an early 30s male sportsbike enthusiast. He had 6 points on his licence for speeding offences and another 3 that had just lapsed. He described himself as a good rider and was attending because he had been bought the course as a present. He had experienced problems with overtaking: other road users flashing headlights or braking as he forced his way in. He displayed some attitude problems with regards to other road users.

We discussed strategies for identifying speed limits and for approaching overtakes in a way that wouldn’t startle other road users. We also talked about the need to identify hazards in front, around and behind us.

Out on the road the client presented as expected; rushing into situations, travelling at the speed limit regardless of dangers and looking to rush into overtake situations. I made a lot of use of the radio, commenting on the approaching hazards and trying to give praise where possible.

Over a debrief my teacher instructor pointed out that although I was commenting on the hazards I was not being explicit enough about the dangers. The client in question needed the dangers inherent in each situation to be spelt out to him so instead of telling him that we were approaching a junction, I was to mention the possibility of a vehicle emerging from the junction. I also needed to be more explicit about why his road position was the right place to be. The rider had positioned to the left over a blind crest and although I had commended his choice I hadn’t made explicit why it was the right choice.

Back out on the road I started with a demonstration ride, giving commentary over the radio about the pertinent hazards and not giving complete commentary in order not to overwhelm the client. I chose a route where we could talk about some of the key points that we had discussed during the debrief: schools and colleges (with young, inexperienced and inattentive drivers), sweeping bends, lots of junctions and plenty of opportunity to talk about road paint and roadsigns. Having delivered a commentary and made it clear what hazards we were looking for I put the rider back in front and asked him to consider his riding in a similar vein. As he rode I identified some of the hazards that were coming up, this time being more specific about the dangers.

At debrief my teacher instructor had another learning point for me: focus on what’s coming up, not on what you’ve already passed. I understand the point he was making here and fully appreciate the benefit of the student seeing what’s coming rather than trying to remember what he has just passed and also not to send the student’s vision and attention rearward.

Arriving back at the centre we spent some time reviewing the videos of our morning’s performance. We had an interesting discussion about the good points from each presentation and discussed where we could have improved.

Our teacher instructor gave us a line that he had heard from the other teacher instructor that has now stuck with me and will definitely be getting some re-use through my work: “If people continue riding as they do and we think the government aren’t going to legislate to curb some of those behaviours try having a cigarette in a pub.” His phrase was definitely more snappy than that but the sense behind it is spot on.

We then got out on the road for another simulation (roleplay, call it what you will). Our teacher instructor this time was playing the role of a rider who had been to a Bikesafe day and had been advised to get a bit more support on his cornering. The questioning went well, I focussed on what the client wanted to get out of the day, which again came back to cornering. He was a commuter that did a lot of motorway miles and very little on rural roads. I probed a bit about what he had learned from Bikesafe and gleaned that he understood the concept of positioning for view, but he wasn’t mentioning position for safety or stability. As we set off I was part expecting a lot of unnecessary extreme positioning but it soon became apparent that he was positioning quite well, was losing speed into the corners and travelling round the bends very steadily. He was also wobbling a lot on right handers but clearly had no problem with speed as he was briskly up to 60 out of the bends. Over the radio I coached him to be gentle but progressive through the bend on the throttle and tried to get a bit more smoothness into the ride. When we stopped for a debrief we covered reading the bend for the appropriate speed, use of the appropriate gear for the speed and the need to be smooth with the controls. What I missed was that he wasn’t looking round the right handers, rather he was looking at the mud in the gutter and was trying to thruppeny bit the corners. Confident that this would have come out in the next stretch of riding with coaching about limit points and reading bends, we moved on to the next scenario. The next scenario went well and I was able to observe the smooth charisma of the other student instructor in action. Mr. Nice Guy did a great job of putting the client at ease. The faults were diagnosed successfully and the suggested remedies were approved.

The afternoon was spent in the classroom studying some of the teaching concepts and discussing the requirements for the microteach. I delivered one of the exercises in the afternoon session. It felt odd to be delivering a classroom session to my peers and I think I probably came across rather stilted in delivery, it certainly didn’t feel entirely natural but although I’d read and heard the presentation several times before I have a slightly different interpretation of it to one of my colleagues. Still, as a group we were able to reflect on some of our own learning experiences – both good and bad. I came out of the session with my head buzzing and a page full of notes and concepts for further reading.

I still haven’t got my head round what to deliver in the microteach – it was suggested that I deliver a session on motorcycle dynamics and stability but I’m not convinced I can do it justice at the moment to a group including non-riders. I’m going to keep thinking about it and will have to pull something together later. I want to find something that I can deliver in an educational way that speaks to non-experts as well as the experts we have in the group.

The teacher instructors demonstrated the safety brief, controls and risk reduction conversation through a roleplay exercise then we got out on the road to observe one of the teacher instructors assessing his colleague. Use of the radios for instruction was an area that I was concerned about, having always avoided this tool before. Having seen how and when the radios are used I am now much happier about their use and can see much greater potential for them. The teacher instructor did not make any comment in hazard rich environments, and made his comments at times where they would not distract the rider. On occasion, early on the approach to specific hazards he would discuss the approach to the hazard and then congratulate the student on having negotiated the hazard safely. I had to keep reminding myself that the focus of the training is to reduce risk, rather than train riders for an advanced test. Putting things into this context is an interesting change for me and has completely blown the doors off how I have delivered any form of post-test training over the past 6 years. Not in a bad way, I hasten to add.

Following lunch I took my role as student instructor and the teacher instructor roleplayed a 25 year old male rider who had been given the training package as a present by his wife but did not particularly think it had anything to offer him. I asked questions that I felt were relevant but neglected to ask what his occupation was; something which came back to bite me on the backside later. The rider dropped most rear observations, lifesavers were non-existant and he was riding briskly for the horizon, looking to make maximum progress. Whilst he didn’t exceed the speed limit he seemed oblivious to hazards around or behind him. We carried on for some miles and at an appropriate point stopped for a debrief. During the debrief it became apparent that I’d made some assumptions about the rider that had led me down a blind alley. However, I didn’t lecture him on the speed and was pleased that I didn’t rise to the bait of a belligerent candidate. I should have asked a few more questions at the briefing, which would have helped me to avoid stereotyping him. I spent most of the ride having to reign him in, peppered with plenty of positive reinforcement when he was doing things right but was mostly confident that we had identified the fault. At the next stop we discussed the possibility of advanced riding to give him the challenge he seemed to seek, which seemed to hit the right buttons.

Talking to the teacher instructor afterwards, he felt that there had been a lot of negative comment during the ride and not much positive. I was certain that I had made more positive comment than negative (or instruction, in the case of trying to reel his speed back in on the approach to hazards). Reflecting on this I realise that a lot of the positive reinforcement was along the lines of “Good choice of speed, you’re holding the speed back well there” and similar comments linked to the speed issue, which probably would have felt like nagging to a guy who was interested in dialling in the speed whenever possible. For future reference, I need to make sure I don’t sound like someone’s mum nagging at them.

Paperwork put to bed we got out on the road for our riding validation. I asked my teacher instructor if he could assess my ride as an ‘advanced ride’ rather than a ‘classic ride’ as I wanted to get the most out of the opportunity. I then set out trying to deliver a gold standard ride, which turned out to be harder than it should have been. Although I already knew my teacher instructor I hadn’t appreciated quite how nervous I was going to be and how much I was going to feel under pressure to perform to a perceived standard. Things seemed to start out well, despite a little brake/gear overlap creeping in but then we got stuck behind a line of cars travelling 40-45mph. Overtake opportunities were slim but eventually I saw what looked like a chance and went for it. It wasn’t ideal, I had to crowbar my way back into a space and the whole thing left me frustrated and fuming. The teacher instructor pulled alongside as we waited at roadworks and we had a brief chat about it. Fortunately the chat had the desired effect and I relaxed into the ride, feeling less pressure to show progress and although the riding wasn’t at my best it was still a low risk ride and of a good enough standard. My teacher instructor was also then able to give me some developmental areas that I now know I can go and get to work on. The debrief was light, positive and helped me get over the fact that I was still beating myself up over the dodgy overtake – nothing dangerous but just crap. To be honest, I’m still beating myself up over it. Don’t ride a liveried up bike and overtake like a numpty, it really isn’t a good look.

By the time we got home it had been a really long first day and I was tired. I need to make sure that I stay on top of my riding, and I need to make sure that I keep my assessment skills about me for tomorrow.

The WEA will be running two more PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) courses next year. One in Nottingham starting in January and another in Leicester starting in May.

This 7303 City and Guilds Award is a nationally recognised introductory qualification and is a requirement for new entrants to teaching in the lifelong learning sector.

For more information please see the attached document below:

East Mids WEA 7303 spring 2011 final

The PTLLS Train the Trainer Reform in brief

The UK government announced recent guidelines in September 2007 to improve and also restructure the planning and also skills of any one who’re teachers, trainers, lecturers and tutors alike. The PTLLS Train the trainer reforms and PTLLS modern regulations comprise of improvements to your initial teacher training (ITT) and continual skilled development(CPD), and affect on dozens of offering mastering using the FE field, including WBL plus the businesses they help. PTLLS Train the trainer has effects on anyone who is responsible for an instructor.

By 2010 each and every educator must be PTLLS capable according to the PTLLS restructure and also reform rules, or definitely working towards an SVUK (Standards Verification U.K) promoted PTLLS qualifying measures – which include those doing the job within WBL and also funded through the Mastering and Expertise Authorities. Which means all instructors will have to be appropriately PTLLS registered and many types of fresh staff members PTLLS licensed to practise with the IFL .

This PTLLS teach the trainer reform regulations relates to all FE Universities and agencies giving LSC funding; Work-based studying companies, adult and also online community understanding vendors, specialized institutions, Train to get, public sector agencies and individual employers…anyone who educates requires a train the trainer PTLLS qualification by 2010.

What is PTLLS train the trainer and what does PTLLS indicate

The PTLLS training program is really a one unit, degree 3 skills made to supply PTLLS training those who just want to get into instructing or provide any kind of instruction. PTLLS represents Preparing to teach from the Life time Mastering Field and PTLLS is on offer to students of 19 years and older. PTLLS supplies the chance for lecturers to realize a level 3 qualification and with your PTLLS course it prospects the earliest tips to full trainer certification. PTLLS will give you all the Expertise and essential knowledge essential being a encouraged and assured PTLLS instructor.

What on earth is meant with the term a PTLLS Instructor

The term PTLLS “Teacher” refers to anyone who is responsible for likely to or performing educating or understanding activities with 1 spanish student or a small grouping of more than one individuals – regardless of the of time they put in into any offered day time. This includes Teaching of Key Skills or practical expertise. A school teacher could be a personal trainer or assessor and definately will need to have PTLLS qualifications.

Who must be PTLLS train the trainer experienced to train?

Anybody just who matches the term trainer as identified over ought to be PTLLS skilled. When you are a mastering supplier of any sort, you’ll need a PTLLS qualifying measures, if you’re an adult personal trainer you need a PTLLS qualification and if you are a voluntary instructor you also have to become PTLLS skilled.

An assessor that also shows you and still have an A1, even now need to do PTLLS training.

The A1 is definitely an assessor’s award; it doesn’t apply people to teach just like the PTLLS course does. You simply must have a PTLLS training program and get a PTLLS qualification since you qualify to be in the term “teacher” therefore ought to comply with the PTLLS reforms for 2010 that says you will probably have to experience a PTLLS certification or positively learning towards achieving a PTLLS qualification.

The essence the PTLLS training course

The PTLLS training strives to provide a short training which has a very good quality for training and meaning professors inside the PTLLS life long mastering sector that satisfies the requirements of the PTLLS reforms for those coaching and educating in the PTLLS ongoing understanding field in britain.

PTLLS course and PTLLS training understanding

The Award in PTLLS Preparing to Train from the Long term Understanding Field is acceptable for individuals who operate or desire to work as teachers in Even more education schools, Adult training, Voluntary education plus the community sector.

The PTLLS Award is supposed to add toward the knowledge, knowledge and knowing with the Ongoing Learning Sector (LLUK) introductory standards. The PTLLS degree supplies a sound practical basic for people a new comer to PTLLS teaching and training or those desperate to train or train in the PTLLS. This PTLLS Award have been designed to meet new PTLLS statutory requirements for those training in the Learning and Skills Field. From September 2007, the PTLLS Award are going to be a mandatory minimum qualification for those teaching. On productive completion of the PTLLS training, college students will probably be recognised which has a PTLLS position to teach.

How is AAB Teaching providing Train the trainer PTLLS?

AAB Training gives PTLLS courses in sites all over United kingdom. This PTLLS teaching is certainly honored by City and Guilds and PTLLS trainers tend to be PTLLS qualified into the greatest standard.

There are two versions from the PTLLS training course that you can attend PTLLS 7303 (C&(C&G PTLLS 7303) Train the Trainer City and Guilds PTLLS 7303 (C&G PTLLS 7303) ıs really a stepping-stone award and turns the C&G PTLLS 7302 and micro-teaching part of the old Certificate in Further and Adult Education Teaching (7307 stage 1). C&G PTLLS 7303 brings out prospects to providing training and is fantastic for instructors in industry, public and voluntary areas or HM forces, who might not exactly have build-up any educating working hours.

City and Guilds PTLLS 7303 (C&G PTLLS 7303) is made to bring into the understanding and knowing for the More Education National Training Organization (FENTO) or even the Employment National Training Organization (EMPNTO) occupational criteria. (These occupational standards are usually the platform that underpins the C&G PTLLS 7303 award).

C&G PTLLS 7303 (C&G PTLLS 7303) is Qualifications and Course Authority (QCA) accredited.

C&G PTLLS 7303 (C&G PTLLS 7303) is related to and overlaps many recent City and Guilds awards

PTLLS 7303/1886 combined

CITY & GUILDS PTLLS 7303 and 1886 Combined Course City & Guilds PTLLS 7303 – PTLLS Preparing to Teach in the Life long Studying Sector City & Guilds 1886 – Qualification for Conflict Managing Training (6 day course)