TESTING LEARNERS’ READINESS

Before you teach anyone you need to find out how much they know or what skills they already have.

One way to find out is to ask them questions. Another way is to test them. In RTCs this will usually mean a practical test, not a written one.

For example, if you want to test a group’s knowledge, skill and experience in carpentry you might do the following:

Set out a number of common carpentry tools e.g. saws, hammers, chisels, planes.

1. Ask each student to tell you the name of each tool.

2. Ask them to tell you the use of each tool.

3. Ask them to demonstrate how to hold each tool.

This should tell you something about their readiness for carpentry.

THE LEARNING GAP

The way you teach an individual or group will depend on their previous knowledge or skill.

One way to think of this is to look at the gap between the knowledge and skill they have at present and the knowledge and skill you want them to achieve at the end of your teaching.

We might use a simple 5 point scale:

1. Skill and knowledge absent.
2. Low skill and knowledge.
3. Medium skill and knowledge.
4. High skill and knowledge.
5. Expert skill and knowledge.

The standard you would normally be aiming at would be high or expert: 4 or 5.

If we want to teach someone how to use a chain saw, we may find they have never seen a chain saw before, so their present knowledge and skill is absent and the gap is widest.

If we want to teach someone to use a pair of scissors to cut out a dress from a piece of cloth, they may have never done this before, but they may have used scissors for other purposes, and probably know what a dress is, so we can say their knowledge and skill is low.

If we are teaching someone from a Solomon Islands village how to weave mats, they may have already woven mats at home and probably know how to choose, cut and dry pandanus leaves, so their knowledge and skill is already medium to high and the gap is small. We may be able to teach them about weaving different types of mats, or we may not need to teach them at all.

A related problem is that we may have people with very different backgrounds and learning gaps in one class. In this case we may have to teach them as individuals, or we may use the more knowledgeable and skilled people to help us teach those whose learning gap is wider.