How to ensure that the teacher you choose is well trained
How do you know if the yoga teacher that you hire to come into your school is suitably trained?
Hopefully this article will help you to ask the right questions about the teacher's training.
It is also adviseable to satisfy yourself that any qualification is authentic.
If you are not sure and need guidance we will be happy to help.
Generally there are two types of training options available
Children's Module
Firstly there are courses such as the Children's Module from British Wheel of Yoga (BWY).
The course is a module only available to teachers who have achieved their yoga teaching qualification with the BWY.
This is a pity because there are many folk in the education sector who have a significant yoga background and the expertise to be excellent children's yoga teachers. For example, class teachers , teaching asssistants and special needs experts.
The BWY course is well run and provides good content; however, it lacks any meaningful accreditation and is not recognised by the education sector.
Weekend Training Courses
There is also an increasing number of "teacher training courses" which provide one weekend of training. The result is that:
• Training providers can barely touch upon each and every subject area
• Learners do not get to observe real class situations or work with children as part of their training
• There are no assignments from which to assess the learner’s understanding of the subjects
• There is no time allowed for personal reflection on issues and experiences that arise when one is involved in the learning process
• Learners are, at best, only equipped to conduct yoga classes at after–school clubs or birthday parties rather than as part of the school curriculum.
Often learners are sent away at the end of the weekend with a manual, which will include ideas and lesson plans, and, invariably, guides on earning extra income from selling the training provider’s products.
Crucially there is no qualifying teaching practice, which means that the learner has not been professionally assessed as to their ability and suitability to teach yoga to children.
Learners are given a certificate – simply an in-house document - which states that the learner “Has successfully completed her children’s yoga teacher training. She has been awarded this certificate indicating her competence as a qualified …yoga instructor”.
The person responsible for hiring a children’s yoga teacher would not know from this type of document that the teacher has had only two days training and has not been subject to a criteria based assessment process.
Michael Chissick comments:
“I wish I had a pound for every time someone either from the yoga community or from education has said to me ‘how can they learn to teach yoga to children in two days?’.
In fact one of the reasons that I wrote the BTEC Advanced Diploma for Teaching Yoga to Children was to offset the inadequacies of the weekend courses.
There have been several people on my courses who shared their experiences of the weekend courses.
The weekends were great fun and the other participants wonderful, they would say, but when in due course they stood in front of a group of children they (the teachers) realised how ill-prepared they were.
At the BWY Congress in April 2009 I gave four workshops. In each workshop there was at least one participant (and therefore BWY member) who had completed this type of weekend course.
They talked about their recurring problems which included a general lack of classroom control, leading to children being disruptive , a lack of understanding of how to enhance children’s self esteem through yoga; and apart from a couple of ‘story’ approaches they had been taught very little in terms of teaching strategies and approaches “
In school, surrounded by professionals it would be obvious very quickly that a yoga teacher needed help or was not up to the task.
In school, surrounded by professionals it would be obvious very quickly that a yoga teacher needed help or was not up to the task.
Left on their own and with few or no checks on the quality of their teaching, there must be some after school teachers who are totally out of their depth and certainly far away from the right approach.
Our Teaching Qualification
All our teachers have attained The BTEC Advanced Diploma for Teaching Yoga to Children, which is accredited by Edexcel – one of the UK’s foremost awarding bodies.
To gain their Diploma Teachers have completed an intensive fifteen month training course which involves training on a wide range of subjects including classroom management, Autism, ADHD, EBP, behaviour control, planning and assessment, child protection , a qualifying teaching practice in school and much more.
We know of no other training provider in Europe who offers such an in - depth course.
Compare this to other UK and American organisations that provide only a weekend of training, where children are never involved in the training process and having to pass a qualifying teaching practice is not required.
We know of no other training provider in Europe who offers such an in - depth course.
Compare this to other UK and American organisations that provide only a weekend of training, where children are never involved in the training process and having to pass a qualifying teaching practice is not required.
Copyright Yoga at School and Michael Chissick 2010. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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