Big schools, small standards

[Gerry Seymour]

I agree with there being a lower limit. I personally would not want more than 10 students unless I have an assistant instructor.

I've run classes up to about 25 at a time. That's usually groups of 2-3 (art is primarily grappling), and groups are given assignments to work on (not usually the same for the whole class, because of range of skill levels). They don't need a lot of attention, so a single instructor can handle it. But 10 groups was about the upper limit of what we could fit in the space at the place I started teaching. We could get a few off-mat for striking drills, but there wasn't much space off-mat. I think more than 10 groups (including the folks off-mat) needs another instructor, both because of the time requirement, and because it's difficult to stay positioned to see all of those different groups easily for safety and coaching purposes.

I've been in larger classes (when visiting other dojos), and yeah, they always had help. I suppose more could be done with line drills (kata, traditional striking drills, etc.), if everyone is on the same drill.

 

[Ji Yuu]

I've run classes up to about 25 at a time. That's usually groups of 2-3 (art is primarily grappling), and groups are given assignments to work on (not usually the same for the whole class, because of range of skill levels). They don't need a lot of attention, so a single instructor can handle it. But 10 groups was about the upper limit of what we could fit in the space at the place I started teaching. We could get a few off-mat for striking drills, but there wasn't much space off-mat. I think more than 10 groups (including the folks off-mat) needs another instructor, both because of the time requirement, and because it's difficult to stay positioned to see all of those different groups easily for safety and coaching purposes.

I've been in larger classes (when visiting other dojos), and yeah, they always had help. I suppose more could be done with line drills (kata, traditional striking drills, etc.), if everyone is on the same drill.

I will have to add that with upper-level classes, students need less individual attention than beginners. So, I can see teaching a class of a dozen or more brown belts would involve less one-on-one coaching than the same number of white belts. I conducted a 2 hour seminar recently with 23 students, all beginners (as in never seen the inside of a dojo). I was glad I had an assistant as much individual coaching was needed. It was a fun time.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I will have to add that with upper-level classes, students need less individual attention than beginners. So, I can see teaching a class of a dozen or more brown belts would involve less one-on-one coaching than the same number of white belts. I conducted a 2 hour seminar recently with 23 students, all beginners (as in never seen the inside of a dojo). I was glad I had an assistant as much individual coaching was needed. It was a fun time.

And a mixed class can be more or less demanding. Give me 6 brown and 6 white. If I pair them by rank, I'll usually have 3 groups that require almsot no attention and 3 that require a lot. If I put the 6 browns with the 6 whites, I have 6 groups that require little attention.

 

[Ji Yuu]

And a mixed class can be more or less demanding. Give me 6 brown and 6 white. If I pair them by rank, I'll usually have 3 groups that require almsot no attention and 3 that require a lot. If I put the 6 browns with the 6 whites, I have 6 groups that require little attention.

Oh, yes. That's definitely the way to do it. Getting the advanced students to help with the novice group. That's actually what I did at the mentioned seminar; my blue stripe student was a big help with explaining the basics to people. I just wish I had one more to help out at that time.

 

[WaterGal]

A school of size has to reach a critical mass; having enough BB's or high-ranking students and/or instructors is a necessary first step. From a startup point of view, this can come in two forms; build the body of trainers through time and promotion or hire BB's from outside your school/system. I hear the latter is done on a regular basis these days, but it just seems weird to me on several levels. On average, the former is going to take +/- 3-years. A reality a startup needs to fully understand. The principal owner must invest some serious time and sweat equity to get the ball rolling. But this is the perfect time to establish the standards and imprint them as the mass grows.

If there is another way to do this, I would love to hear about it.

After the critical mass of instructors is created, things can get into a rhythm more like you are describing.

That's true. At the beginning, you're probably having one instructor teaching all the classes. If you offer a bunch of classes each week broken up by age and rank, that can be manageable up to a certain point, maybe 100-150 students. By that point, you've hopefully trained up some people to a rank where they can be instructors.