Facilitation

Facilitation is the instructional technique that helps trainees discover for themselves what is appropriate and effective in the context of their own experience. The instructor enables insight and self-analysis rather than transferring conclusions by telling. In EBT, facilitation is the primary technique for debriefing; showing and telling complement it when pilots lack the knowledge or experience to work the issue unaided.

#Why it is primary in EBT

To perform effectively, a pilot needs integrated knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA). Knowledge and many skills transfer efficiently by direct instruction. Attitude and behaviour change rarely do: adults resist being told how to behave, especially by someone they do not respect or who represents an untrusted authority. Behaviour rests on the trainee's own experience, values, and beliefs. Facilitation surfaces consequences the trainee may not have seen, then leaves the decision to change with the trainee.

Adults learn best when they understand the reason for learning, are actively involved, can connect new material to existing mental models, and can reflect and self-analyse. Facilitation builds those four conditions into the session by design. It also reinforces effective behaviour: when a crew understands why something worked, transfer to the line is more likely than praise alone.

#Mechanism: dual role and levels

In line-oriented simulation (LOS) debriefing the instructor is both facilitator and technical instructor. Facilitation promotes self-discovery; instructor expertise fills gaps the crew cannot close. Erroneous statements and missing technical facts are better corrected by brief direct instruction than by more facilitation. The dual role does not mean leading the crew to predetermined answers; the topics and perceptions the crew raises must matter.

Level of facilitation tracks crew capability. Always work at the highest level the crew can sustain; unnecessary descent blocks participation.

Diagnostic for the room: if the instructor does most of the talking, the session is instruction regardless of intent.

#Instructor use

• Set the contract early: how the crew participates, how you participate, why the session is crew-centred, and how long it lasts. Introductions that do this increase depth of participation.
• Select technique by knowledge gap. If only you hold the relevant knowledge and the trainee cannot reasonably work it out in time, instruct. If both parties share the subject (typical for behaviour), facilitate.
• Keep the relational stance equal when facilitating. Superior tone, body language, or "I know better" signals collapse facilitation into instruction with extra steps.
• Joint agenda with the crew, while you still ensure training objectives are covered. Rigid instructor agendas kill crew ownership.
• Non-judgemental attitude while facilitating: treat the trainee's opinion as valid enough to work with, even when your own experience says otherwise. Judgement belongs in observation notes and training objectives, not in the tone of the discovery conversation.
• Accept the workload. Facilitation is cognitively heavier than polished delivery: multiple verbal and non-verbal channels, real-time response, group dynamics.
• Use the operational toolkit: open questions that require more than yes/no, three-to-four-second silence after questions, active listening (non-verbal through expanding), and video only for segments you will discuss.
• Close with reciprocal feedback on your own performance so the session stays a two-way professional exchange.
• Match facilitation level to crew capability and to human factors in the room (stress, readiness, style). Drop to structured instruction when discovery has no content to work on.

#Connections

• Instruction versus facilitation. Technique selection: when to tell, when to enable discovery, and the ICAO line-by-line contrast.
• Active listening. Listening discipline that keeps facilitation two-way and surfaces what the crew actually thinks.
• Questioning technique. Pose–pause–pounce, open questions, and answer handling that make facilitation work.
• Set and closure. Topic framing and consolidation inside a facilitated debrief.
• Human behaviour in flight training. Enabling climate and stress that make discovery possible.
• Learning styles. Processing preferences that change how long silence and model-building must last.
• C-A-L model. CRM / Analysis / Line frame that structures each LOS topic once facilitation is running.
• The briefing, conduct and debriefing loop. Where facilitation sits in the full session arc from brief through debrief.
• Johari window. How facilitated discussion operates on public, blind, hidden, and unknown performance data.
• Crew resource management. Non-technical skills facilitation is designed to surface and reinforce in LOS debriefs.
• Evidence-based training. Methodology that names facilitation as the primary debrief technique.
• Evaluation cycle. Criterion-referenced outcomes facilitation still has to support after discovery.
• Day 1 versus Day 2 grades. Day-2 SBT is facilitated stretch training, not a second check under higher demand.

#Sources

• Doc 9995, Part I Ch 7 (Conduct of evidence-based training). Facilitation as primary competency-based training and assessment (CBTA) technique; KSA rationale; Table I-7-2 instruction versus facilitation.
• A4.C Facilitation Guide. Rationale, four adult-learning conditions, ten practitioner considerations.
• A1.2 Instruction vs Facilitation. Dual role, do/avoid, high/intermediate/low levels, crew and instructor effectiveness criteria.
• A1.4 Facilitation Techniques. Questions, silence, active listening, video toolkit with worked dialogue.
• 7.3 General Debrief Techniques. Condensed levels, do/avoid, and toolkit for in-chapter use.
• A4.2.5 Conduct of Debriefing. Nine-step EBT debrief sequence that operationalises facilitated self-analysis.
• 3.5 Questioning. Classroom questioning skill that debrief facilitation extends.
• 3.14 Which Method of Questioning to Use. Selection logic among questioning approaches.