Horrified at the Standard of Teaching

sally2008

sally2008

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Sorry folks but I've just got to have a bit of a rant. :(

One of my fellow liveries is studying at a local equestrian college and will be taking her Stage 3 in September. As she'll be taking her exam at a centre where all the horses will be over 15.3hh and she has very few of these to ride at college, I offered her some lessons on my schoolmaster, which she readily accepted. She had a flatwork lesson on him last week and proved to be competant, sensitive and very willing to learn.

Last night we planning to do some jumping and as she'd had a jumping assessment at college last week I asked what feedback she'd received to give me an indication of what she'd like to work on. I was horrified to learn that apparently they had failed almost the whole group and not given them any feedback about their faults! What!!!!! How on earth do they expect pupils to improve if they don't tell them where they think they are going wrong? The failure has quite obviously knocked her confidence and as the term is now over it seems that college are quite happy for her and her classmates to be carrying around this negativity until they return in September, when they could be working on improving the issues during the summer months. What is wrong with these people? Do they not take any pride in their jobs as instructors?

Talking to a work colleague today who's daughter is that the other local college it seems much the same happens there too!!!

Someone please tell me that this kind of carry on is not widespread?
 
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Sad to say it doesn't suprise me.
There is a college near me which is similar. They pass people, and the people don't have a clue!
One girl shocked me. She would think it was ok to go out hacking for 2 and a half hours on a horse she hadn't sat on in 6-8weeks.. (alot of trotting and cantering on grass verges)
She had studied and passed her course, and didn't have the foggiest idea about horse fitness :eek:
Shocking the standards of teaching.. :rolleyes:
 
And you believed her! :p
I remember one student whose parents came in, distressed because she was short of sleep due to selflessly covering for other students. She'd done three weeks duties in a row, so was exhausted, bless her, and couldn't complete her assessments.
And the reality - student hadn't done a single duty, not even her own, had videod (on her mobile phone) herself doing 'line ups' (having sex) with the male students to compete with her friends over who could have most.
How did we know, I hear you ask. Because she showed the mobile phone footage to her tutor.
And her poor parents came in to take us to task over their hardworking child...we didn't have the heart to tell them.
S :D
 
Shilasdair said:
And you believed her! :p
I remember one student whose parents came in, distressed because she was short of sleep due to selflessly covering for other students. She'd done three weeks duties in a row, so was exhausted, bless her, and couldn't complete her assessments.
And the reality - student hadn't done a single duty, not even her own, had videod (on her mobile phone) herself doing 'line ups' (having sex) with the male students to compete with her friends over who could have most.
How did we know, I hear you ask. Because she showed the mobile phone footage to her tutor.
And her poor parents came in to take us to task over their hardworking child...we didn't have the heart to tell them.
S :D
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LMFAO!!!! That has brightened up my working day. I should giggle.. but... :D
 
Shilasdair said:
And you believed her! :p
I remember one student whose parents came in, distressed because she was short of sleep due to selflessly covering for other students. She'd done three weeks duties in a row, so was exhausted, bless her, and couldn't complete her assessments.
And the reality - student hadn't done a single duty, not even her own, had videod (on her mobile phone) herself doing 'line ups' (having sex) with the male students to compete with her friends over who could have most.
How did we know, I hear you ask. Because she showed the mobile phone footage to her tutor.
And her poor parents came in to take us to task over their hardworking child...we didn't have the heart to tell them.
S :D
Click to expand...

PMSL - Busted! :D

I would be surprised if this is true of an equine college too. Maybe they failed her and she didn't want to go into details so dissed the college.

They will be regulated and will have standards to adhere to. Before she goes back in Sept, keep guiding her and helping her to improve to stop any negativity brewing.

Have to say the one I trained at (a loooong time ago :p) was fab and the feedback and encouragement was across the board. So I don't think it's widespread no.
 
Shilasdair said:
And you believed her! :p
I remember one student whose parents came in, distressed because she was short of sleep due to selflessly covering for other students. She'd done three weeks duties in a row, so was exhausted, bless her, and couldn't complete her assessments.
And the reality - student hadn't done a single duty, not even her own, had videod (on her mobile phone) herself doing 'line ups' (having sex) with the male students to compete with her friends over who could have most.
How did we know, I hear you ask. Because she showed the mobile phone footage to her tutor.
And her poor parents came in to take us to task over their hardworking child...we didn't have the heart to tell them.
S :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, yeah, okay point taken :) but yes, in this case I do believe her as she's quite obviously desperate to learn and pass her exams so that she can get a reasonable job within the industry. Added to that, one of her instructors kept her horse at the last yard I was at. I always hoped to god that she didn't teach the same methods she used with her own animal, or perhaps putting your hands behind your knees to get an outline is the way it's done these days? ;)
 
There's a riding school near where I live, nice place etc BHS approved (if I remember rightly sure I've seen the sign) but sometimes I do cringe when I'm walking by (you can see the arena from a track) some of the ponies the little children are having lessons on are well, not exactly schooled shall we say, one chap was having a lesson and this cob didn't even look like it knew basic aids or how to turn, I didn't know who I felt sorry for more the pony or the rider and they seem to have young girls teaching as well and last time they had them turning really sharply after a jump, telling them to turn on landing, I thought someone is going to come off here and within a minutes a girl was on the floor and the pony was nearly on the floor as well, quite worrying really, I wouldn't be very pleased if I was a parent paying for that put it that way, but having said that, the children always seem to be enjoying themselves and it takes a few naughty ponies and a number of falls to teach a child how to ride (bit old fashioned like that;)), so in some respects, if there suited and booted, it's not always a bad thing I guess. :confused:
 
Kenzo said:
There's a riding school near where I live, nice place etc BHS approved (if I remember rightly sure I've seen the sign) but sometimes I do cringe when I'm walking by (you can see the arena from a track) some of the ponies the little children are having lessons on are well, not exactly schooled shall we say, one chap was having a lesson and this cob didn't even look like it knew basic aids or how to turn, I didn't know who I felt sorry for more the pony or the rider and they seem to have young girls teaching as well and last time they had them turning really sharply after a jump, telling them to turn on landing, I thought someone is going to come off here and within a minutes a girl was on the floor and the pony was nearly on the floor as well, quite worrying really, I wouldn't be very pleased if I was a parent paying for that put it that way, but having said that, the children always seem to be enjoying themselves and it takes a few naughty ponies and a number of falls to teach a child how to ride (bit old fashioned like that;)), so in some respects, if there suited and booted, it's not always a bad thing I guess. :confused:
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1. Cobs are adept at looking like they don't know 'basic aids or how to turn'; it's what they do! :p
2. And breathe!
S :D
 
In now have a girl working for me who has spent some time at college. She rides well enough but has never been taught or had the basics established. Some of the things she has come out with have astounded me.
Simple things like rolling bandages she was pulling them as tight as she could because she had been taught that way.
In the months she has been here her riding and confidence have improved greatly and she has stated that she has learned more here in six months than two years at college.

I can understand health and safety but if they are expecting these people to get jobs when they leave they have to teach as in the real world. To turn a horse out in the field they had to don hard hat body protector, steel capped boots and have a member of staff accompany them. Bit different here where we think nothing of either letting the horses in loose or, lead in four or five each!

I want a job at the college! Brother, would I shake them up.
 
what shocks me is when supposedly knowledgable people don't realise they're being taught badly. a girl i know is serious about eventing and her parents bought her an extremely expensive horse about this time last year and i've not heard much of her recently but last week she did a shocking dressage test at an event - she got 45 but should have been more like 60. not what you expect from a 17k horse, one has to question how long this has been deteriorating and i would certainly be changing instructors by now. how can you not realise?? the proof is in the pudding.
 
muddypony said:
what shocks me is when supposedly knowledgable people don't realise they're being taught badly. a girl i know is serious about eventing and her parents bought her an extremely expensive horse about this time last year and i've not heard much of her recently but last week she did a shocking dressage test at an event - she got 45 but should have been more like 60. not what you expect from a 17k horse, one has to question how long this has been deteriorating and i would certainly be changing instructors by now. how can you not realise?? the proof is in the pudding.
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It's easily done.
I imagine you think your school educated you sufficiently, too.
S :D
 
Shilasdair said:
It's easily done.
I imagine you think your school educated you sufficiently, too.
S :D
Click to expand...

when i hear of things like this i do wonder whether i am being taught correctly too. if so many people get told the wrong things and end up getting bad results, how do i know i'm not being told the wrong things too? i never claimed to be perfectly educated myself but i'm in a rather different situation to this girl anyway.
 
muddypony said:
when i hear of things like this i do wonder whether i am being taught correctly too. if so many people get told the wrong things and end up getting bad results, how do i know i'm not being told the wrong things too? i never claimed to be perfectly educated myself but i'm in a rather different situation to this girl anyway.
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I would hazard a guess that your school is not doing such a good job.
S :D
 
i was working as a working student on a yard in my holidays at uni and one of my fellow working pupils had been studying equine studies at university for 2 years and had no idea how to muck out !! she could ride quite well but had never had to fill water buckets or shovel s**t in her life oh how she complained about how hard work it was but after three months she said it was the most useful time she had spent and the most she learnt about the horse industry
 
Never mind colleges, what about the pony club and freelance instructors! I think standards have deteriorated all round, which just perpetuates the problem.
 
Shilasdair said:
In the same way that you were judging your 'friend' with the 17k horse, I was judging you, based on the very little I know about you from your posts.
Not pleasant, is it?
S :D
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Like!

Before anyone shouts at PC instructors, they have the most vile of jobs. They are given 6-8 children, on a variety of ponies grouped ideally by standard but really by age, because people would stop coming if they were with the 5yos. Then, they have 2 hours to try and accomplish something with said group. In this time there will be at least 1 fall, 1 pony who refuses to jump anything, 1 child who refuses to jump anything (never together, that would be too easy), 1 pony who bolts, 1 who kick and 1 which bites and 1 saint. The rest are reasonable in comparison. Somehow the instructor has to get them safely back to adoring parents, smiling, without having sworn or got on a pony and beaten it up/ beaten up a child.

Most of this is voluntary/ petrol costs/ a pittance. Go easy on them...
 
teddyt said:
Never mind colleges, what about the pony club and freelance instructors! I think standards have deteriorated all round, which just perpetuates the problem.
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It's a shame you think that - I'm doing some coaching training through PC at the moment and have been impressed with the senior branch figures I've been with, they obviously try to match their riders with the best instructors for them, and understand that all their young instructors start somewhere etc. I've also been impressed with the guinea pigs kids I've been dealing with who've come up through pony club, certainly made me go back home and assess with fresh eyes the little habits I'd let certain of my regular riders get away with for too long.

As for freelance, well anybody can go freelancing if they fancy but just because one doesn't work for you, doesn't mean they might not work for somebody else.

I do agree to an extent with the people who say so many people have an AI it's meaningless, but I think that's harsh on the people who've worked hard and are proud of their AI, and do a good job at what they do. Chosing and rating instructos on how well they teach and you won't go far wrong IMHO.

Re the OP about colleges, ditto everything everybody else has said but also the stage 3 itself is confusing me at the moment, as I had a work experience girl with me recently who had her 3 riding (done through a college) - who if she'd come to me to ask I'd have hesitated to reccomend to go and take her 2 without some polishing of the basic positional faults (hands by horses shoulders with straight arms etc). My own instructor taught her after I had and was as staggered as me, said instructor then went off and taught somebody else who after 20 minutes announced they had their 3 and AI, and she had to pick herself up off the floor. Yet I was at a 3 exam recently where people were failed on their flat and not allowed to progress to the jumping who were riding better than my WE girl. Had a chat with a senior instructor there a few weeks later and she was still staggered by the choices that were made, and unsure now what she is supposed to be doing to prepare the candidates she's successfully prepared for years. So maybe the college are being unhelpful because they have no idea what the examiners want to see anymore!
 
muddypony said:
what shocks me is when supposedly knowledgable people don't realise they're being taught badly. a girl i know is serious about eventing and her parents bought her an extremely expensive horse about this time last year and i've not heard much of her recently but last week she did a shocking dressage test at an event - she got 45 but should have been more like 60. not what you expect from a 17k horse, one has to question how long this has been deteriorating and i would certainly be changing instructors by now. how can you not realise?? the proof is in the pudding.
Click to expand...

Are you sure she wasn't nervous? My daughter (with her tuppeny ha'penny pony) can ride very nicely at home/with instructor/at riding school on their pony, but put her in a 'show' situation, or a group at pony club where she worries about it all and it soon goes to pot!
 
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