Teaching Best Practice

Advanced Teaching provides an opportunity to intentionally apply your postgraduate learning within your existing professional practice.

As a qualified Pilates teacher, you are expected to approach your Teaching Practice with a high degree of professional autonomy, accountability and care. Whether you are teaching your existing Clients as part of your regular work or arranging dedicated practice sessions, the same professional standards apply.

Use these experiences to explore and refine your teaching — applying new repertoire and concepts, developing your programming and communication, and making considered decisions in response to the individual in front of you.

Much of your Advanced Teaching Practice will be self-directed.

You may incorporate your postgraduate learning into sessions with existing Clients or arrange dedicated practice opportunities with suitable Clients, colleagues, friends, family members or other Students.

When arranging your own Teaching Practice, you are responsible for ensuring that:

• the Client and environment are appropriate for the teaching activity you intend to complete;

• you work within your current professional scope and capability;

• your teaching is appropriate to the Client's needs, experience and movement capability;

• you follow the policies, procedures and safety requirements of the Studio or professional environment you are using;

• any necessary bookings, permissions or Studio arrangements are organised in advance; and

• your conduct reflects the professional standards expected of a Pilates ITC postgraduate Student.

If you invite a Client into a Pilates ITC Instructor Training or Work Placement Studio, you are also responsible for ensuring they understand and respect the Studio's expectations, safety requirements and professional environment.

Your Work Placement is an opportunity to apply your developing postgraduate knowledge — but Client-centred teaching must always come first.

You should never introduce repertoire, progressions or teaching approaches simply because they appear within your current coursework.

Instead, consider whether what you are exploring is appropriate for the individual in front of you. Adapt, regress, progress or choose an alternative where required.

Advanced Teaching is as much about developing your professional judgement as it is about expanding your repertoire.

As you teach, consider:

• How can I appropriately integrate what I am currently learning?

• What am I noticing about the Client's response?

• Are my cueing and communication achieving the intended outcome?

• How could I adapt or progress the experience?

• What informed the programming choices I made?

• What worked well, and what might I approach differently next time?

• How is my postgraduate learning changing the way I think and teach?

This cycle of application, observation, reflection and refinement is an important part of developing advanced professional capability.

Your responsibilities around Client privacy and confidentiality apply throughout your Work Placement, just as they do within your usual professional practice.

Where you are provided access to Client information or records for the purpose of preparing or delivering a session, you must:

• access only the information required for the relevant teaching activity;

• keep Client information private and confidential;

• follow the privacy and information-handling requirements of the Studio or organisation;

• discuss Client information only with appropriate people and only where required for the teaching activity; and

• never photograph, copy, share or remove Client information unless you have been expressly authorised to do so.

Where a Studio provides specific instructions about accessing or handling Client records, those requirements must be followed at all times.

Wherever you complete your Advanced Teaching Practice, approach it as you would any other professional teaching engagement.

Be prepared. Be respectful of the Client and the environment. Work within your professional capabilities. Protect Client privacy. And use each Teaching Practice experience as an opportunity to apply your learning thoughtfully and continue refining the Practitioner you are becoming.