How to Tell if a Martial Arts Instructor Is Qualified

By eHow Sports & Fitness Editor

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Choosing a school with good teachers is a crucial element in your martial arts training. Here are a few ways to determine the quality of instruction.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Martial Arts Encyclopedias
Martial Arts Supplies
Martial Arts Videos

Step1

Watch the instructors. If you're not a student, ask permission first. Do they demonstrate techniques and do they correct any incorrect techniques students perform, or do they simply give commands?

Step2

Determine the level of discipline used. Are they too lenient, just right or too severe?

Step3

Assess the extent instructors encourage respect for partners and opponents during drills and practice.

Step4

Identify how often instructors ask for student feedback. Are they open to suggestions and innovative practices within a structured curriculum?

Step5

Check with other students and share examples of good and bad instruction.

Step6

Ask the head instructor how the school's teachers are chosen. What qualifications do they have? Are they promoted in an accredited organization, such as the World Tae Kwon Do Federation?

Step7

Assess your progress. Have instructors provided clear direction when asked? Have they encouraged short and long-term goals for each class?

Tips & Warnings

Good instructors model the same values they expect from you.
Consult a physician before beginning any exercise regimen. Remember that the practice of martial arts can be dangerous, so use caution at all times.

Comments

skecanj said

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on 8/1/2008 sorry... not enough room.

Best advice is to ask the instructor directly what his training has been in how to teach.

Some instructors have had no training in how to teach (as opposed to how to do) the style. Others have gone through an intensive, internal course of instruction.

Another thing to watch for is -- is the instructor in shape and does he or she still train? Does the instructor practice what he or she preaches?

As far as being able to turn off a light switch with your feet, I am not sure that qualifies a person to be a good instructor. It's a great thing to be able to do, but even students can do it.

skecanj said

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on 8/1/2008 Another thing to watch for is whether or not instructors explain why a technique works.

On discipline, sometimes it is hard to gauge how you will react to the discipline in a style. I tried out a class once where I wasn't sure if I liked the strict discipline. As it turned out, I thrived in a well-disciplined class, and I trained there for 15 years.

Share with students examples of good and bad instruction? I am not sure that students have enough knowledge about instruction to critique their instructors -- but... students do know how they feel about the instructors. Be careful this doesn't turn into an instructor-bashing session. Not cool.

As far as teacher accreditation goes, few styles have a supervising organization like taekwondo does. Even so, you do not know what kind of training the instructor has been through. Best advice is to ask the instructor directly what his

evalinpar said

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on 5/27/2007 i was in a tae kwon do class, but i went out, because it was stupid. if you look up tae kwon do on the internet you'll see people standing stright. but if you look up wushu, you see everyone walking around, jumping, and free, i rather have learn wushu.

mrcolj said

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on 1/15/2007 Yes, it's all about choosing a good instructor. And I have a weird answer--I'm a good instructor, and people constantly tease me for reflexively using my feet as hands. Watch for that. When I look around at good instructors, a lot of them, "like monkeys", pick up things, turn on and off lights, etc. with their feet--not for practice, but accidentally because they have become so coordinated with their feet.