Both instructors and coaches, in addition to possessing the technical, methodological, and strategic knowledge of teaching and training, could add the role of Learning Facilitators. This includes the study of the psycho-affective learning environment and the development of self-evaluation in terms of affective-motivational components, i.e., working on factors not only external but also internal to the learners/athletes, as well as their own.
During our initial stage in skiing or racing, we receive a large amount of stimuli that we must put in order. For this we depend on external authorities: the instructor and the coach. Later on, the incorporation of theoretical knowledge can be added to these ‘authorities’, but it will never be as effective because both instructor and coach are able to identify when we are able to grasp the sensory information and thus our own learning; and this is a big challenge for them.
Although these professionals are taken as references, they are not the only models to copy. They may be at the beginning, but then we must know when to stop imitating them and take them as one of the many references.
Instructors and coaches, as facilitators, must not only practice patience; they must also be prepared and willing to deal with periods of frustration and uncertainty. If they are not, the situation of bewilderment may catch them off guard, which could lead to tense situations between them and their learners/athletes.
A good facilitator clarifies his knowledge and reinforces it when teaching or coaching. He has confidence in what he is teaching/coaching, but more importantly, he must have confidence in the skiers. The lesson or training session may be similar to the one he himself had to learn and, therefore, he can now improve it and pass it on to others. His most important resources are learning and teaching/coaching because they allow him to modify his way of thinking and thus collaborate in making others do the same, but better.
The facilitator who practices his own learning understands his learners, recognizing his own behavior towards them and its consequences, perceiving how the behavior of others affects himself, and developing the ability to listen and to accept proposals and suggestions.
Learning is change, so facilitators should consider themselves as “Agents of change”. In addition to knowing how to promote change, they must cultivate the capacity for learners and athletes to continue learning. Many hold fast to their ideas and ways of thinking and teaching, but learning means change. Some are afraid to change the way they teach or coach because, perhaps, they don’t believe that change is a step forward; but they can always learn something from change.
Good facilitators know that only essential changes are those that last over time. That is why the first goal they promote is the desire to change, therefore, the fundamental change will occur when each one modifies his or her own way of thinking, and that will be the most difficult lesson to learn.
Roles of instructors and coaches
It is conceivable that there are three sensitive functions to be fulfilled by ski education professionals:
- The affective containment function refers to the fact that, in the learning process, they must understand and accompany the skier. They can collaborate in providing tools to tolerate anger or frustration for not reaching the objective, that is to say, to teach how to bear the emotional discomfort that arises from a negative situation. It is useless to use an intellectual way to transmit when in particular cases it should be done affectively with gestures and a tone of voice that the skier can reach tranquility and confidence.
- The integrative function of the affective (feeling) and rational (thinking) systems to assist the skier in the development of intuition.
- The adaptive function in terms of actively adapting the skier to the context by making him aware of the motivations behind his behavior.
Tendencies in professional development
The dilemma of novel instructors and coaches is that it is very difficult to change what cannot be seen. When the novice instructor/coach begins to interact with learners or athletes, he generally attempts to provide generic solutions to the various mental and emotional problems that may arise, acting in an impassive manner and using methods learned in his formative stages.
With experience, they will begin to collaborate more with the learner/athlete acting more as facilitators, tailoring solutions to meet the specific needs of each one. The novice facilitator tries to self-train through different pedagogical situations he encounters in different lessons and training groups, as well as remembering the suggestions of their mentors/trainers, then, their anxiety and own insecurity will be aspects influencing their perceived self-efficacy.
Despite adopting an attitude of enthusiasm and collaboration, novel facilitators are aware of their limiting pedagogical knowledge and skills so much that they may become fearful or even feel that are letting their skiers down by exposing himself in front of them. Likewise, expert facilitators are not exempt from feeling anxious when dealing with new situations.
