Train-the-Trainer by DataHomeLab

1.2 Philosophies of Learning

A training organisation's training systems and solutions shall do certain things (the operating obligations) and its learning solutions are designed, delivered, and evaluated against specific principles. The two halves are connected: the obligations specify the outcome the organisation is committed to; the design / delivery / evaluation principles specify how learning solutions are constructed so that outcome is reliably produced.

The five obligations

Training organisations' training systems and solutions shall:

  1. Ensure that individuals are able to acquire and develop the core competencies necessary for safe, effective and efficient operations.
  2. Provide for the continuous development of performance to enhance the organisation's and individuals' resilience to adverse events.
  3. Provide an evidence-based learning system aligned with the organisation's strategic objectives.
  4. Provide training in accordance with the applicable regulatory requirements, and in accordance with the policies and procedures specified in the Train-the-Trainer Course Manual.
  5. Ensure that only personnel holding an appropriate rating or authorisation issued by the civil aviation authority, or who are considered acceptable to the Authority, shall conduct training and checks for flight crew members.

The five obligations are not interchangeable: they sit at different parts of the training pipeline. Obligation 1 is the content obligation (the curriculum has to develop the core competencies the tasks of line operations demand). Obligation 2 is the trajectory obligation (training is a continuous activity, not an event; it builds resilience over time). Obligation 3 is the epistemic obligation (the system is grounded in evidence rather than tradition or instructor preference). Obligation 4 is the legal obligation (the system satisfies the regulator). Obligation 5 is the gatekeeping obligation (only authorised personnel deliver training and conduct checks).

Obligation 1 carries the same load against the core competencies framework, which is the standards-body construct (ICAO-9868 and ICAO-9995) that defines which competencies the curriculum must develop. The 8 ICAO core competencies plus the course manual's 9th competency (KNO; see KNO) are the operationalisation of obligation 1.

The design, delivery, and evaluation principles

Learning solutions employed by the training organisation shall be developed and delivered according to the following principles, organised under three headings.

Design

Learning solutions shall be:

  • Developed using structured analyses of training needs.
  • Based on documented learning objectives.
  • Utilising the most relevant methods to meet learning objectives.
  • Developed to maximise functional learning.
  • Employing a competency-based approach.

The five design principles together describe the upstream half of the training cycle the 1.4 Methods of Training and Checking prescribes. Structured needs analyses produce the inputs (the 1.4 Methods of Training and Checking spells out the procedure); documented learning objectives are the outputs that the lesson plan and the syllabus then reference (the 1.5 Knowledge Objectives is the unit those objectives are written in); the "most relevant methods" rule blocks default-to-lecture instructional habit; "maximise functional learning" subordinates pedagogical novelty to whether the learning actually transfers to the role; and "competency-based" anchors the whole design pipeline against the core competencies rather than against a topic syllabus.

Delivery

Learning solutions shall be delivered:

  • In a trainee-centred environment.
  • Employing facilitation whenever possible methods to promote active and reflective learning.
  • Minimising direct instruction.
  • Providing fair, objective and relevant feedback to trainees.

The delivery principles are the operational consequence of obligation 3 and design-principle 5. Trainee-centred delivery means the trainee, not the instructor, is the unit the session is organised around. Facilitation (see ICAO's definition in ICAO 9995 Chapter 7: "a method of guiding rather than instructing in which the trainee discovers the answer through guided self-analysis") is the default instructional technique; direct instruction is the fallback. The "minimising direct instruction" rule is what makes the facilitation default real: an instructor who reaches for the lecture by default has not minimised direct instruction even when the lesson plan permits facilitation.

The feedback principle ("fair, objective and relevant") prescribes the quality of the feedback the 7.1 Introduction (Chapter 7) is responsible for delivering. Fairness means the same standard is applied to comparable trainees; objectivity means the feedback is grounded in observed behaviour rather than instructor inference; relevance means the feedback ties back to the learning objectives the lesson plan declared.

Evaluation

Learning solutions shall be evaluated based on effective and objective measurement of individual performance and system effectiveness.

The evaluation principle is dual: the same evaluation activity measures individual performance (does the trainee meet the standard?) and system effectiveness (does the training programme reliably produce trainees who meet the standard?). The dual measurement is the feedback loop that closes the 1.4 Methods of Training and Checking cycle: an evaluation that records only individual outcomes and never feeds back into curriculum refinement misses the second half of the principle.

Drawn from EBT principles

The A4.1.1 Evidence-Based Training restates the same philosophy from the EBT angle and adds three claims that the obligations above only imply:

  • Evidence drives the curriculum. "A comprehensive analysis of safety data sources and training results has demonstrated important differences in training needs between different manoeuvres and different aircraft generations." Obligation 3 commits the organisation to evidence-based learning; Appendix 4 supplies the data argument that makes the commitment non-arbitrary. See Six aircraft generations for the per-generation training-needs differentiation that argument produces.

  • Competencies replace technical / non-technical labels. Appendix 4 treats the labelling of knowledge and skills as 'technical' and 'non-technical' as "an unnecessary complication"; the key competencies identified in EBT encompass what were previously termed both technical and non-technical knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Obligation 1 names the competencies without explaining the deliberate collapse of the split; Appendix 4 supplies the rationale.

  • The instructor's job changes from check to fault analysis. EBT "refocuses the instructor onto analysis of the root causes of unsuccessfully flown manoeuvres in order to correct inappropriate actions, rather than simply asking a pilot to repeat a manoeuvre." Fault-analysis ability "should be a major determinant in the selection process of an instructor who will be expected to conduct a competency-based training program such as EBT." This is why the delivery principles minimise direct instruction: the instructor's primary cognitive work is fault analysis, not demonstration.

Connections