What is your policy on observing?

[turtle]

Just curious how folks set up their school in terms of letting parents/family members/curious strangers observe class. Do you have an observation area? Does your waiting room/area open onto the mat? Is your training floor visible from the street?

The post in the general forum about reputation risk management got me thinking about the different school set-ups I've taught in and the varied polices I've encountered on class observation, everything from absolutely no observers to a very open policy to anyone can watch at any time. Both have obvious drawbacks. What's your policy? Are you happy with it? Has it changed over the years?

 

[terryl965]

I guess my policy is simple come watch and hopefully one day you'll join some type of Martial Arts.

 

[Empty Hands]

Well, I don't run my own school, but I would be very suspicious of a school that refuses any sort of outside observation. Especially of prospective students before they sign up and pay their money. It implies something to hide.

 

[theletch1]

Well, I don't run my own school, but I would be very suspicious of a school that refuses any sort of outside observation. Especially of prospective students before they sign up and pay their money. It implies something to hide.

Bingo. Our school has a gallery which looks onto the training area. Anyone who enters can sit and watch. If they are someone we haven't seen before then the instructor will approach them while the students run through the warm up. As Empty Hands said, not allowing anyone to view is a big red flag for me. If there are children involved and parents aren't allowed to view then my kids wouldn't train there.

 

[Kacey]

It depends on the room (my class is in 2 different rooms at the Y, depending on the night). In the dance studio (which started out as a racquetball court) there is an observation area above the studio, where people are welcome to sit and watch; there's really not room to sit in the studio during class. In the aerobics studio, there's space to sit in the doorway and watch, or sit in the back of the room, and people are welcome to do either.

 

[newGuy12]

Well, I don't run my own school, but I would be very suspicious of a school that refuses any sort of outside observation. Especially of prospective students before they sign up and pay their money. It implies something to hide.

That's right. Anyone can come to our school and watch a class, or, better yet, wear some loose clothing and take a free lesson! We have nothing to hide, and will let people watch the practice, no problem at all.

haha -- and sometimes when I go to class, I see the parents sitting as the children practice. I sometimes say, "Well, we have some people sitting here who need to go past this line and practice themselves, join us!", but they have not yet joined us. They miss out, they could be exercising themselves! No excuse!

 

[turtle]

Keep on those parents NewGuy, I got more than a couple of parents to sign up for classes after they spent months or sometimes years of sitting and watching their kids. After all the time spent watching, they picked things up really quickly and I remember at least one who made it to black belt. Oh, and in one facility there was a weight room so we were able let parents use the weight machines while their kids took class, which really worked out well. The parents were as eager to come to the school as the kids.

Kacey, the set-up with a separate observation room above the class area sounds really good in terms of not having noise from parents chatting or younger brothers/sisters playing the waiting area.

 

[Xue Sheng]

When I taught I did not mind if someone watched.

My Taiji Sifu does not mind but likes to be asked if it is ok first

My Sanda sifu does not like it but if we are training outside near his or my office it is kind of hard to stop, so he does not make a big deal out of it.

My past Xingyi sifu did not allow it at all, he said it bothered his students.

My past Wing Chun Sifu didn't care as long as it is Siu lum tao, he does not let people watch the more advanced stuff.

 

[Andrew Green]

As long as the person has a reason to be there, they should be allowed to watch. If they are family, or even friend, or considering joining, etc. If someone was just showing up to watch as they had nothing better to do, didn't know anyone and had no interest in joining, then I might object. Never had that happen though, so not really a issue.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I think you have multiple options to work with here. If you want someone to observe that is fine. If you are teaching kid's then you are always going to have someone observing so that goes with the territory.

Now when I am teaching adults I truthfully put all my energy into those people who are there for the lesson. Any time I spend with a prospective student would take away from the practitioner's that are there to learn. (that is really not fair) I do not answer phone calls or pages during training as that time is set aside for the practitioner's. So, if you want to come and check out a class you have to be willing to step onto the floor. (hey it is a free class so why not) Also, this get's rid of people not really, really interested and if someone does take the free class and participates then they also know what to expect. Most people seem very happy with this arrangement.

 

[kidswarrior]

The post in the general forum about reputation risk management got me thinking

What post was that?

 

[turtle]

In this thread: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59828

Brian Johns said:

Whether this story is true or not, this does point out the need for school owners to engage in "reputational risk management." A reputation takes a long time to build up and can be destroyed overnight, either due to a school's negligent/abusive practice or due to a vicious false story/rumor. In the case of a children's class, one way to manage reputation is to ensure that there are a fair number of adults/parents present. There are other ways to engage in reputational risk management.....many of you can figure out myriad ways to avoid this situation.

 

[kidswarrior]

In this thread: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59828

Brian Johns said:

Thanks, Turtle.

 

[jks9199]

I generally don't have a problem with visitors watching class. My instructor closed our class to new members and to observers (without his express permission) once for a year, because of the material he was teaching. It's not that it's secret stuff, or questionable, it's that he didn't want to deal with new students as he taught some pretty advanced material. OK, and I guess it is "secret" in that he didn't want it shared unless you paid the dues to learn it; unless you put in the years that it took to earn the chance to learn it.

I'll talk briefly with a prospective student during class, but I figure that if I spend time talking to them, I'm not teaching, and they aren't seeing what I'm like as I teach.

 

[Perpetual White Belt]

I'm pretty open with people watching my classes. It helps to get new students, plus as someone else pointed out it helps with liability issues. Plus especially during the kids classes it helps the kids feel like their family is interested in what they're doing and is a little extra something to help them stay motivated.

 

[Twin Fist]

If you are gonna teach kids, you HAVE to let the parents stick around and watch. For an hour class, they would (most of the time) rather sit there than go run errands or whatever, knowing they just have to be back in an hour.

 

[tellner]

How could you expect someone to spend many hours and a lot of money for your services sight-unseen?

 

[Twin Fist]

yeah Tellner, that is totally correct.

wait, what did I just say?

I feel dirty now...LOL

 

[JustAVisitor]

We have visiting/observing hours, the rest of the time the school is opened to students who need to practice longer hours and need quietness. The visiting/observing hours are during all beginner and intermediate classes.
During these periods, we usually have someone dedicated to welcome visitors and parents, present information, answer questions and offer necessities, also take care of subscriptions. The 'receptionists' are students in uniform and they have been instructed how to welcome visitors as well as how to address parental issues. There is a sitting area in each training room that can accomodate 4 persons. The sitting areas are close to the entrance/exit door.
Reception has been organized about 10 years ago as a mean to not disturb the cursus of classes. Before the instructor or an advanced student would spend time the visitors or parents at the expense of the students.
We welcome everyone to watch the classes. With time we have established some organizational procedures to address defiant visitors, trouble makers, invasive parents, gangs, other martial artists, and regular joes.

 

[Tez3]

We have visiting/observing hours, the rest of the time the school is opened to students who need to practice longer hours and need quietness. The visiting/observing hours are during all beginner and intermediate classes.
During these periods, we usually have someone dedicated to welcome visitors and parents, present information, answer questions and offer necessities, also take care of subscriptions. The 'receptionists' are students in uniform and they have been instructed how to welcome visitors as well as how to address parental issues. There is a sitting area in each training room that can accomodate 4 persons. The sitting areas are close to the entrance/exit door.
Reception has been organized about 10 years ago as a mean to not disturb the cursus of classes. Before the instructor or an advanced student would spend time the visitors or parents at the expense of the students.
We welcome everyone to watch the classes. With time we have established some organizational procedures to address defiant visitors, trouble makers, invasive parents, gangs, other martial artists, and regular joes.

Argh! the bane of my life! I agree totally that parents should be able to come and watch and understand why but oh dear if only they would return the understanding! Our seating area for people watching is right by the mats, there's nowhere else and it can be very distracting for the children to have parents gossiping and chatting away as if it were a social occasion put on for them, I've had parents walk onto the mats to tie up kids belts and give them drinks, parents shouting at their children for misbehaving as well as 'encouraging' them "Go on son kill im" to a four year old, nice!
I do have quite a few 'good' parents who try to quieten the noisy ones and explain about watching. I feel it's me that's at fault because they never do it to our chief instructor! I wrote some guidelines for the parents, things like not wearing jewellry, short nails etc and being quiet during lessons but it hasn't seemed to work. I do hush the parents as politely as I can but don't want to alienate them. My instructor is blunt he says tell them to shut up or get out but something stops me as I feel its fine for him to say that as it's his club but I can't lose him students!
We've never had a problem with anyone else coming in we don't get belligerent visitors. it wouldn't bother me if we did, they'd be easier to deal with than the parents!