In a society that is leaning further and further into online only options; such as online shopping, working from home, online bookings and online study – it has me asking the question, how do adults learn best?

Whilst making things accessible online opens a world of opportunity for many, there are some settings where taking the online option means missing out on crucial learning opportunities and elements of learning that simply cannot be taught online; only in a real-life, face-to-face environment.

In 2024, 22.4% of Australians are choosing online learning and this number is projected to grow by 8.66% in the next 5 years, meaning that nearly 1/3 of Australians will be opting in for online learning options by 2029.

For a lot of courses and industries, this might mean streamlining the pathway into these types of jobs or cutting out unnecessary time and money spent on face-to-face learning that is not crucial to the role. For courses that are people focussed, movement focussed, teaching focussed – like Pilates – online only options may mean graduates are entering the industry under-prepared, not confident and lacking the people skills needed to succeed as a Pilates instructor.

If we strip it right back to the principles of Adult Learning, some things we will see come up are; adults learn by doing, adults desire relevance, adults utilise experience. Let’s strip this back further and apply these principles to a Pilates teacher training environment.

 

Adults Learn By Doing

Does providing adults with real-world scenarios that they are likely to come across in their job in the future, benefit the learner as they can directly apply the skills and knowledge they have been taught, to the situation at hand?

This is why contact days and practice teaching hours are so important within a Pilates course. Having constant face-to-face engagement means the student is;

  • consistently dealing with people
  • learning to adapt their knowledge to the body they have in front of them
  • broadening their awareness on how different people respond to different cues.

If we take away these things, are learners really gaining transferrable skills that are going to help them succeed in a teaching environment?

There are also so many elements outside of teaching a class that are crucial to the role of a Pilates instructor. Elements such as;

  • Interacting with clients
  • Building rapport
  • Working alongside others

are just a handful of skills outside of actually teaching Pilates that contribute to your success in the industry.

Much like how schoolteachers have placement hours, how can we expect adult learners to step into a people-facing role, where your job is to teach, interact and adapt to the person in front of you, if you’ve never done it before?

 

Adults Desire Relevance

Are adult learners more likely to engage in learning that has direct relevance to their lives?

This is where self-mastery hours and attending classes plays a crucial role. It is imperative as a teacher, that you’re learning why we do Pilates and how it has an impact on our mental and physical health. Requiring learners to complete logged self-mastery hours not only ensures they have a thorough understanding of the exercises they’re teaching, but they are feeling in their own bodies the positive impacts of Pilates on their day-to-day life. I’m sure we have all heard the saying “practice what you preach” – right?

Being within a studio environment, putting the exercises on your own body and kinaesthetically learning the repertoire means you’re able to understand the lived experience by the clients, and educate them on the importance of each movement- because you genuinely understand it yourself.

 

Adults Utilise Experience

Are adult learners shaped by experiences? Do opportunities such as hands-on learning and job-shadowing help them to get a firmer grasp on the content and get more excited about the new skills they’re acquiring?

This is a big one! Work placement hours are the epitome of utilising experience in adult learning. Courses that require students to;

  • get into a real-life Pilates environment
  • observe how experienced teachers are at work
  • jump into teaching paying clients

hold more value than we realise. As great as teaching your family and friends is, particularly in the early stages of learning, jumping in to teach/assist bodies you’re not familiar with, personalities you’re not familiar with and people who are paying for a service you are expected to provide, allows learners to understand the expectations of the job they’ve signed up for and make the transition from student to teacher a lot more seamless. Talk about getting bang for your buck! You’re paying money to complete a course; shouldn’t you expect to feel competent by the end?

Whilst there are a few more principles to adult learning that I haven’t mentioned, the three examples above start a top-level discussion around the importance of contact days, self-mastery hours and work placement that many courses are choosing to omit in 2024.

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that online learning options can alleviate issues such as lack of time and financial barriers for learners, or even offer a more direct route for those who already have teaching and movement experience under their belt. Both of which also hold a great deal of value when it comes to adult education.

But with face-to-face and even hybrid models of learning becoming less and less popular amongst Pilates students, it makes me think about what impact this will have on the industry both short and long-term.

If students are graduating without feeling ready; will they feel less inclined to look for work in the industry?

If students who graduate with no face-to-face experience jump straight into a job; are we at risk of clients getting injured?

If students are investing their hard-earned money into study – shouldn’t they receive a holistic learning experience?

Ensuring students are debuting in the industry with face-to-face and work placement hours under their belt only enhances the experience for the student, increases retention of transferrable skills and improves their employability, yet somehow these two things are starting to be seen as “old-school learning”.

With online learning having grown 900% since its creation in 2000, it’s obvious this form of study isn’t going anywhere (and nor should it!), but does online learning exclusively hold up as providing adult learners with the skillset needed to jump into the Pilates industry? I don’t think so.

 

An Article by Cecily Hemphill

Dip. Professional Pilates Instruction

Faculty Educator – National Pilates Training

References:

https://www.devlinpeck.com/content/online-learning-statistics

https://www.statista.com/outlook/emo/online-education/australia

https://www.wgu.edu/blog/adult-learning-theories-principles2004.html

https://virtualspeech.com/blog/adult-learning-styles-vak-model

https://peregrineglobal.com/experiential-learning/

https://uminntilt.com/2014/07/09/teaching-across-generations-part-i/