Celebrating Experiential Learning
What is experiential learning and what could it mean for your rugby sessions?
Dan Lycett is Head of PE & Sport at St Davids College. Their PE department has been awarded the 'Best Experiential Learning' award. Dan explains what experiential learning is and how it can be applied in rugby.
As a department and a school we are thrilled to announce that our Physical Education department has been awarded Highly Comended in Best Experiential Learning award for our innovative new course.
We have a commitment to providing a holistic and student-centered approach to physical education, ensuring that we meet the diverse needs of our students.
It’s a Physical Education course, which is Level Two a GSCE equivalency. The students on the course are aged 14-16. It is newly designed and aims to better address the holistic needs of our students by promoting physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
“Experiential learning is an engaged learning process whereby students “learn by doing” and by reflecting on the experience.” - Boston University
The course emphasizes student agency and self-direction. The non-linear nature of it allows students to explore and engage with the material in ways that resonate with their individual learning styles and interests.
One of the core principles of our new PE course is celebrating student agency. By incorporating a heavy self-directed element, we empower students to take control of their learning journey.
Experience over assessment
Imagine learning is a story. It's the students’ story.
We have a curriculum and then there will be an exam of some sort. This can make it really difficult for teachers to create something that's engaging.
The course has multiple units from mental health, leadership and nutrition. The pupils can choose Open University courses we select or any that they can find.
There are some we’ve preslected, with different guided learning hours. There’s 3 different levels. Level 3 is equivalent to A-Level content.
As Rusty (Russell Earnshaw) says students can choose their level of spice. The online content might have 20 guided learning hours to read, including videos or audio. There’s also some multiple choice questions.
That’s allowed the students to gain online CPD qualifications that will sit on a LinkedIn profile we’ve created for them.
They’re also encouraged to go and find any other courses that they’re interested in that relate to coaching.
This approach not only fosters independence and critical thinking but also helps students develop a lifelong love for physical activity and wellness.
There are mutiple things we do to create the unit. We bring in speakers to create context. We used to bring speakers in halfway through the unit. That’s changed.
We believe that the more context we can add into the mixing bowl to begin with, the better. It gives the students more relevance to what they're studying through the conversations we have.
We'll set up coaching sessions or bring the speakers down and work with the students in a low key way. We then have conversations afterwards to support their understanding.
The idea is that they'll support each other through being in those experiences. This year they had a day up with Rachel Taylor and the women's team at Sale Sharks.
They got to experience all of the content they’d been reading about, including what S&C does and what a coaching session look like. The staff go round and engage in conversations, they help to light little fires within the students.
The students also have a learning meeting during every unit. They get asked set questions around the subject matter. These help staff ensure they know how to support students in the unit.
At the end of the unit they produce a three minute presentation that they present to a member of PE department and another staff member in school. For example one of the chefs will come in and they'll give them feedback on what that was presented.
We're trying to get the students to live in their own lives and experiences.
I've taught for 20 years and I think there must be a better alternative today than GCSEs.
Creating a pinch point, an endpoint assessment, does nothing to support the engender a love of learning.
There are some children that love like being tested. I’m not saying we can't create an environment for that to occur. However, the focus on tests is creating a false perception of what learning is.
I think the hard part there is getting students to rebuy into a nonlinear approach. How do we asign value to doing something that has no numerical attachment to it.
They produce a presentation at the end of the unit, but the only part that's valued is the value you have in how people will react to it.
We've just finished for Summer and a parent came up to me and say that their son doesn't want to leave because he loves it so much.
Schools and tests shouldn’t be the bogeyman of failure. I believe every curriculum, all curriculum, on the whole, like any subject matter, is open to interpretation. It’s about having the conversations with enough people to have the bravery then to adapt.
The curriculum in Wales is quite a lot more open than it was previously. It's more holistic. Looking at developing a whole person.
Transferring the learning into rugby
I was really keen to energise the students we had. Play to your strengths. It's about being able to celebrate what's in front of you.
The nonlinear element is really important. If you’re coaching junior players, they will mature at different rates. Rugby is physical at times, it can be highly contact driven
Find what super strengths your players have. Celebrate those. Everything is relational, it’s important to know your players personally.
It’s sound obvious, but doing it consistently is key.
If teams focus on what they might learn from each match, suddenly the game doesn’t matter numerically. I’m not saying players (including juniors) don’t want to win.
However, there are different wins, including focusing on learning and finding your own way to play.
Ideas/Questions from Jess if you’re inspired by experiential learning
Reflection is important within experiential learning. Are you giving players good opportunities to reflect during and after sessions and activities?
How are you developing relationships including player to player and player to coaches?
Are you selecting a range of activities so players can practice existing skills and learn something new?
Are you enabling players to ask questions during activities and sessions?
Can you help players recognise connections between different activities and contexts?
Want to know more?
Dan and Ross have launched a podcast that spans the journey of its development and reflects the embryonic nature of the course and its outcomes.
Part of this article was originally published on Dan’s Linkedin, with thanks to Dan for this original and additional content