Teaching Skills And Coaching

In this chapter, a four-step method to teach skills is outlined, to assist the extension worker to improve
the way he trains individuals to do a task.

An extension officer who wants to get his job done must be good at teaching and coaching. They are the
basic requirements for passing new skills on to a client.

Teaching is more than just a job. It requires a lot of understanding of the target audience, because the
teacher's goal is to create change in the learner. A teacher is ineffective if the learners are not able to
put into practice what the teacher has taught them.

Effective skills teachers should:

- Know their subject matter thoroughly

- know the techniques and skills of teaching
- want the student to know how to do the job being taught
- understand the need and motivations of the individual and be aware of his/her resources,
- help the individual to learn rather than force him/her to change.

Because teaching involves the learners/students in a learning experience it is vital for the teacher to
understand the process of learning. Before a person learns he must:

- notice something - awareness,

- want something - need,
- do something – action
- get something - satisfaction.

Successful teaching depends on the individual making a permanent change. The teacher cannot rest on
the fact that the knowledge has been presented. The learners must be prepared to notice, want, act and
gain satisfaction.

In achieving change, many persons learn by trial and error or by just watching other persons. People
learning in this way:

- take a longer time to reach the desired standard,

- make more errors than necessary,
- as a result of frustration during the learning process, may form undesirable attitudes or habits
which will have to be countered.

Four-step instruction process

The four-step method was developed during World War 2 in the United States to train workers to
replace those who had gone to war. It provides simple, basic principles of learning and is very effective.
Step 1: Prepare

There are two aspects of preparation

(a) Plan the instruction

Your first task is to decide the objectives of the instructional session - what you want the trainee to be
able to do at the end of the instruction. Taking some care over this can often save you from attempting
too much in one session. This is worthwhile, because a trainee can absorb only so much new
information at one sitting and any instruction beyond that point is time wasted, apart from the
undesirable effects it will have on the trainee.

Having decided on your objectives, you then make sure that you have all the material you will need. This
will include examples, copies of regulations, finished articles or examples you have prepared yourself.
Have any necessary equipment available and make sure that the work-place is neat and tidy.

Spend some time planning exactly how you will present the instruction. If necessary, prepare a checklist
of key points. Remember that what seems simple and straightforward to you may not be so simple for
the trainee, so give some thought to how you will explain the way in which certain things are done and
why.

(b) prepare the trainee for learning

Any person who is required to learn a new job is in a stress situation. This is particularly true of younger
people and especially those new to the job. Try to get the trainees to relax for a few minutes and their
first impressions of their new work environment will be more favourable. You may also gain valuable
information about their background, interests, and experience that will assist you in your instructing
task.

Step 2: Present the instruction

If your Preparation step was well done, this stage should be relatively easy.
Begin by giving a concise overall explanation of the job or task that is the subject of the instruction,
including an explanation of how it fits in the overall work scene. This will make the subsequent
instruction more meaningful to the trainees and that in turn will aid their retention of the new
information.

Demonstrate the task stage by stage, presenting the instruction in logical steps so that each process
makes sense on its own. Explain fully what you are doing and why, emphasising any key points. Key
points are those things that make the difference between a skilled performance and an amateurish
attempt. They are the special techniques that the skilled operator tends to use without conscious
thought, so very often they aren't all passed on to the learner. You need to be aware of these and
include them in your presentation. (Safety points are always key points.)

Make sure that the trainees are positioned correcdy so that they observe the demonstration from the
operating viewpoint. This is vital if a manipulative task is involved.

Step 3 try out

Have the trainees perform the task, using aids if they wish. Correct mistakes as they occur. Allowing
errors to go uncorrected until the whole task is complete reinforces the incorrect learning, and makes
learning the correct response that much more difficult. Remember that the job of the instructor is to
make it as easy as possible for the learner to learn.

Next have the trainees perform the task again, this time explaining to you what they are doing. Getting
them to explain serves two purposes:

- it helps reinforce the learning still further,

- it provides a test of whether they have really understood.
Continue this process until you are satisfied that the trainees have mastered the task. You cannot be
sure they have learnt until you have seen them perform the task correctly at least once. The
supervisors/instructors who defend themselves when trainees make mistakes by saying, 'But I told
them', are only drawing attention to their own inefficiency

Step 4: Follow up

At this stage you leave the trainees to proceed on their own. There are only two points to be aware of
here:

- make sure the trainees know to whom they can go to for help if necessary. (If it's not yourself,
make sure the person involved has been briefed on his/her responsibilities);
- check the trainees' progress, frequently at first, then at decreasing intervals.