Teacher training or certification

scohen0300 · Blue Belt

Has anyone looked into or attended any teacher trainings or certification courses (online or in person) for martial arts instructors?

I’d like to say that I’m against these kinda things, but if done correctly (and not just an attempt to get money out of people), I think it could be very helpful for instructors who are looking for “continuing education” in their teaching abilities. My interest in this is that I’m constantly looking for ideas with my younger students, specifically 5 and 6 year olds (but 7-12 as well). Nothing style specific, just more ideas. Can’t have enough of those.

I listen to the Whistlekick Martial arts podcast regularly, and recently learned that they’ll have an in-person training course coming up this year for instructors. I was wondering if there’s anything like this already, but as an online course instead.

Has anyone taken any online courses? Any that you’d recommend or think are worth looking into?

Thank you!
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Nidan Melbourne · KF Sempai

I attend a Coaches Course Annually which is run through my States Karate Body. But plan on upgrading to my Silver Accreditation in 2024.

sensei8 · KF Sensei

I've never attended any teacher trainings or certification courses (online or in person) for martial arts instructors because I was taught by both our Soke and Dai-Soke for many decades; they owned and operated a highly successful Hombu and Governing Body.

I've ran a very successful dojo and MA Supply Store for many decades. Rinning a business has its highs and lows, and when the lows hit, that's when some serious learning takes place.

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bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

I know the ATA gets a lot of flack, but one thing I think they do right is they hold a week-long instructor certification camp that trainee instructors must attend before becoming a certified instructor. They do lots of different workshops on ideas behind teaching and such. I felt like I really got a lot from it when I went. This was quite a few years ago now, too, so I don't know how much things have changed.

My current organization awards certification upon reaching 3rd dan (for adults). I don't think this is so great an idea.
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Zaine · Black Belt

When you're a school teacher, you have to attend something called in-service every year. It's a set of meetings designed to refresh you on things like proper pedagogy and new techniques to use in the classroom. You are also encouraged to spend some time during the Summer going to conferences or attending online courses to further your education on teaching. The idea here is that teaching is difficult and a good teacher is always seeking ways to improve upon themselves. I think instructors should be doing the same. Seeking out those classes, provided that they are quality (obviously, teaching conferences fall under some regulations that require data backed research and Martial Arts has no such thing), should be something that instructors do.

I am sure that there are plenty of online courses. If you're worried about quality, and I think that's a more-than-fair concern to have, then I suggest checking out some regular teaching online courses. I apply a lot of what I learned as a teacher to my dojo and it works really well, especially for children. The research for classroom teaching is out there and we have access to it. Just because we aren't teaching math or English doesn't mean that we can't use the techniques therein.
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Wastelander · KF Sensei

In my first dojo, I did end up attending a weekly class where we were taught how to teach. I think I ended up going for a little less than a year, before I moved. It was basically a class where everyone took turns running some aspect of the class, with prompts from the Chief Instructor. Someone would run the warm-ups, and someone would teach some basics, and someone would teach a kata, and someone would teach a drill, and so on. It was basically a big roleplaying exercise, because we all already knew how to do all of these things, but those of us not teaching were supposed to act like beginners. Sometimes, we acted like kids, as well, by slacking off, or being distracted, or misbehaving. As we went through the session, we would pause and breakdown how things were done well, and how they could have been done better. This was only open to people who had already been helping instructors with classes for a while, so everyone had at least started copying what they had seen their instructor do, so we had a basis to start from.

All-in-all, I think it was a very valuable program. After I moved, and switched styles, my Sensei didn't do a class like that, but he did have more advanced students help newer ones, and then at brown belt start teaching a class a week, so that they got experience doing it. He would, of course, keep an eye on the class, and help out or provide advice, as needed. It was more of an on-the-job-training kind of thing.
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Judo | 2007-2010: Gokyu | Sensei: Joe Walker (RIP), Ramon Rivera (RIP), Adrian Rivera
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scohen0300 · Blue Belt

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