Pupil Self-Evaluation

Far too often, the depth of a pupil – driving instructor conversation goes something like this:

Instructor: Ok, well done, good stuff, how did that go for you then?

Pupil: Yea Ok I guess.

Instructor: Only “I guess”?

Pupil:  I dunno.  I suppose it went alright.

Instructor: Ok good, that sounds really good.

No it doesn’t.  That sounds far from good actually.  We can’t FORCE positive outcomes on pupils, no matter how much we like to present a glossy, positive spin on things.  It is ultimately degrading a working relationship because it is based on inaccurate and inadequate evaluation.  If a pupil has absolutely no desire or even concept of self-evaluation then let’s not fall into the trap of pretending they do!  We can ask them to scale progress, we can invite them to identify success and we can ask them a question like this:

“Ok Ian, so you’ve just been spending half an hour working on the goal of keeping lane discipline on these multi-laned roundabouts.  I counted that you did 8 in that time, so well done for that – that is a great effort there.”

“Thanks.  Wow….. was that really 8?  Amazing - that flew by.”

“Sure was…. this is what practising is all about.  If everything was a breeze, footballers wouldn’t practise taking penalties, tennis players wouldn’t practise taking serves.  When you compare what you just did now, to what you were doing [enter last session], what would you say was better today?”

Now I guarantee that will make your pupil think.  They can’t NOT think about that question.

They may refer to confidence, they might respond about a technical aspect of the subject in question, they may refer to the different weather, or how busy the roads are.  But the point is they are now reflecting on past performance.  This is a valuable learning aid.  It is in this reflection that thoughts about ability, skillsets, progress, satisfaction, pride are developed.  WITHOUT this reflection, we are depriving our pupils of these opportunities.  This affects motivation.  They may want to refine the goal, change the location, measure performance differently, change how they are learning the subject.  But the question provides the catalyst for this level of discussion.

The conversation is one based around positivity.

Our pupils are no different to us.  Some of us are naturally more confident than others, more optimistic or pessimistic, more willing to open up about our inner feelings than others.  It isn’t a crime if our pupil is reluctant to self-evaluate but don’t pretend they are.  That helps no-one. 

The gains of encouraging our pupils to answer questions like the one above are many fold: 

Did the trainer identify the pupil’s learning goals and needs?  Tick that one

Were the practice areas suitable?  We’re on it – reviewing as we speak

Was the teaching style suited to the pupil’s learning style and current ability? We are asking them

Was the pupil encouraged to analyse problems and take responsibility for their learning? Yes

Were opportunities and examples used to clarify learning outcomes? We are reviewing those 8

At the end of the session – was the pupil encouraged to reflect on their own performance? Invited yes

Do you recall when you were last in a 1:1 learning environment?  Did you feel isolated, patronised, ignored, belittled?  Not nice eh?  Don’t forget how that made you feel.  Did it affect your inner most thoughts, did it de-rail your ‘drive’ to progress, did you start doubting yourself, did you resent the experience, did you begin to wish the next session never came along?  This is very real, it affects our pupils’ most deepest feelings and as professionals we ignore it at our peril. 

BIG TOM Pedagogy Sessions from £20/hour 0775 607 1464