Keeping Your Learners Interested
Keeping learners interested is one of the hardest things to do. As an Assessor, your main role will be to carry out planned assessments of your learners against a set criteria. However, you also need to take an interest in their learning and help to keep them motivated throughout their qualification.
If you have an Education and Training qualification and work within this sector, you will know first hand how hard it is to engage with learners who are gazing out of the window and are switched off! Keeping your learners interested is so important as otherwise they simply aren’t going to absorb any of the information you are giving them.
Motivation is Key
If students are interested in what they are being taught, not only will they learn, but they will also perform better. Motivated students are always the ones who come out with the highest grades, and are therefore more likely to succeed. Knowing how to motivate your learners is one of the hardest things, but there are some simple strategies that you can put in place:
- When giving instructions, make sure they are clear to your learners. If they don’t understand the task they have been given, it is likely to make them frustrated and unmotivated.
- You don’t have to be a strict teacher all the time. It is really important to show your students that you are human too, so let them see some of your fun side in the classroom. They will actually respect you a lot more for it afterwards.
- Be positive and encouraging. Not all of your learners are going to sail through each task with ease, you need to be there to support them if they are struggling.
- Use innovative methods of teaching. It is always easiest to stick with ‘tried and tested’ methods, but remember that every learner is different. What works for one person may not work for another, so mixing up your teaching style every so often is a great idea.
- We have talked a bit about the praise sandwich and giving constructive criticism, but one key thing to remember is that only give praise when it is actually deserved. Praise needs to be genuine in order for it to have the right effect.
Explain the Importance of Learning
You may have some particularly difficult learners who really don’t want to be in the classroom, and are only present because they feel forced to be there. It may be that an employer wants them to gain a qualification in order to improve their knowledge and skills. Therefore, the learner is not going to be motivated as they are just completing the course in order to please someone else.
In this instance, it is important to take the time to build a relationship with your learner where they trust you. Enthusiasm is vital here (but not too much that you look a little crazy!). It will take time to win them over, but try and encourage them to see the learning experience from a different angle. Give them the opportunity to express themselves and be creative, as that will help them to enjoy the learning process.
At the end of the day, make sure that your lessons incorporate fun as well as the more serious learning aspect. That will help to keep them interested, which will in turn help them to learn more within your lessons.
We hope this article has helped to give you some inspiration on how to keep your learners interested, we would love to hear any tips and tricks you have too! Feel free to email them over to training@brooksandkirk.co.uk.
Steve is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
He provides Educational Consultancy to the 19+ sector as well as being an Assessor, IQA, EPA and Digital Marketing Professional. When not doing any of these he finds time, every now and then, to write blogs and articles.