Train-the-Trainer by DataHomeLab

8.3 The Student

8.3.1 What the student knows (WSK)

Before commencing an instructional exercise, it is essential to know the starting point. Teaching an ILS in an A330 to a cadet student is considerably different from teaching it to an experienced but non-type-rated pilot. The level of knowledge of the student will determine how you will present the information. The baseline for WSK can be obtained from the syllabus, the student's file, and by asking them (eliciting). The instructor should have a knowledge of the student's past and current performance by reviewing his/her file prior to the session. Armed with this knowledge, the instructor can tailor the brief and profile to best suit the particular student, and then determine What to Teach (WTT), then How to Teach it (HTT). WSK should be established during the revision part of the 6.6 The A-W-A-R-E Model.

The three sources of WSK

8.3 The Student names three sources for WSK. Each carries a different fidelity profile and a different failure mode:

  • The syllabus. Tells the instructor what the student is supposed to have covered up to this point. Authoritative for the planned curriculum, silent on whether each item actually landed. Use the syllabus as the floor: the student should not be assumed to know less than the syllabus has covered, but must not be assumed to know it well.
  • The student's file. Tells the instructor what previous instructors have recorded about the student's actual performance. Authoritative for known weaknesses, lesson outcomes, repeated items, and any flagged areas that need re-validation. The fidelity depends on the discipline of the previous instructors' record-writing; a sparse file does not necessarily mean a strong student. Read the file before the brief, not after; the brief itself is shaped by what is in the file.
  • Eliciting (asking the student). Direct questioning during the revision part of the brief and during the brief's introduction. The only source that gives the instructor a current, this-session reading. Eliciting catches the gap between "covered in the syllabus" and "actually retained"; it also catches drift since the file's last entry.

How WSK drives WTT and HTT

The compressed framing is: WSK → WTT → HTT. Unpacking the chain:

  • WSK is the input. It is the starting condition the instructor inherits from the prior training events.
  • WTT is the next-step content the syllabus and the lesson plan dictate against the WSK floor. The lesson plan typically nominates the items to cover; the instructor's job is to confirm those items are still the right ones given the actual WSK (a stronger-than-expected student may absorb more; a weaker-than-expected student needs the lesson re-scoped to consolidate the prerequisite first).
  • HTT is the instructional method selected for this student on this lesson. This is where the four traits of 8.2 The Flying Instructor (Subject Matter Expert, Teacher, Psychologist, Counsellor) and the 8.4 Fundamentals of Airborne Instruction are deployed. A more advanced student will require less Demonstrate phase and more time spent on the Direct and Monitor phases; a cadet will need a fuller Demonstrate-Direct-Monitor cycle on each new manoeuvre.

The cadet-versus-experienced-pilot example at the opening of this section is the load-bearing illustration: same lesson title (an ILS in an A330), radically different airborne technique (different briefing depth, different demonstration discipline, different intervention threshold during the Direct and Monitor phases). The variable is not what the lesson contains; the variable is how the airborne sequence is conducted.

Where WSK feeds back into the airborne sequence

WSK is established in the brief, but it remains operational throughout the airborne sequence:

  • At the start of each new manoeuvre or sequence, the instructor confirms (briefly, in the cockpit) that the student is set up to follow the planned method. This is a micro-WSK check inside the airborne sequence; if the elicit reveals the student is not where the brief assumed they were, the airborne method shifts (more demonstration, more direction, less monitoring).
  • At the end of each sequence, the Monitor phase of the 8.4 Fundamentals of Airborne Instruction updates the WSK record. By the end of the sortie, the instructor has a behavioural-WSK that is materially more current than the file's previous entry; the post-flight debrief and the file update transmit this forward to the next instructor.

This continuous-update cycle is what makes the WSK-WTT-HTT chain operational rather than a one-shot pre-flight calculation. The instructor reads the student during preparation, refines the read during the brief's revision, and updates the read continuously through the airborne sequence.

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