In defence of the classroom

I went to a conference recently where classroom training got a good kicking and, since there were no classrooms there to defend themselves, I started to feel indignant on their behalf. 

All the usual statistics were trotted out: the difficulties of transferring learning from classrooms back to reality; the poor retention rates; the costs of gathering people together in a fixed place. 

By contrast, any-time-any-where-blended e-learning got a very favourable press. The overwhelming message was for trainers to get out of the classroom, steep themselves in the business plan and show how they can add value, embrace new technology and take learning to where the people are. Poor old classrooms didn't get a look in.

It took me back ten years when I was surrounded by people assuring me that paper-based publications had had their day and that, in future, everything would need to be electronic. I allowed myself to be persuaded to spend lots of money developing online development tools and we launched them, with a fanfare of trumpets, in 2001. They did okay but the interesting thing was that demand for paper-based stuff continued unabated. Naturally we thought this was temporary and that people would soon see the error of their ways and switch to the online offerings. However, they never did; sales of 'old fashioned' booklets and manuals not only continued, they consistently exceeded sales of their electronic equivalents.

So, I couldn't help wondering whether all this brave talk about abandoning classrooms was premature. There is a time and place for everything - classrooms included.  

As I listened to classrooms getting short shrift, I thought to myself 'damn it, I spent approximately 16 weeks a year of my life as a trainer slaving away in classrooms (many windowless too!). Surely all this suffering hasn't been a waste of time?' Then I got my calculator out (I'm increasingly calculator-dependent) and did some sums:

40 x 52 = 2,080

40 x 16 = 640

640 as a percentage of 2,080 = 30.77%

This is a long-winded way of saying that, for 40 years, I spent nearly one third of my life in classrooms of various shapes and sizes. I hope that, therefore, even if you are anti-classroom training, you can appreciate my reluctance to admit it was all a complete waste of time. I know, I know, this is denial with a capital D.

Of course, classrooms have their problems: it is often difficult to persuade busy people to enter them at all, especially if they carry negative baggage from their schooldays; difficult to get people adjusted to the rarefied atmosphere of a classroom; difficult to keep the outside world, with all its distractions, at bay so that attention can be undivided; difficult to equip people for the transition back into the real world where the pressures and demands differ significantly from those in the classroom.

But classrooms aren't all bad news - they have their plusses too. Classrooms come with a blatant learning label attached to them. No one is in any doubt that classrooms are places where you are supposed to learn (that's 'supposed', not necessarily 'will' ). Classrooms are ring-fenced spaces with learning the explicit purpose. They were invented precisely because the hurly burly of the outside world was not sufficiently conducive to learning. It is far easier for classrooms to be learning-friendly than everyday workplaces. 

In fact, if a classroom isn't conducive to learning, that is a disgrace, a missed opportunity, a dereliction of duty.

Classrooms provide a temporary respite from the wicked world. They lend themselves to reflection - rarely possible in busy workplaces. They make it possible to focus, without distractions, on whatever has to be studied or mastered. They allow people to meet together to share experiences and indulge in reciprocal learning. They are cheerful, off-the-record places with relaxed laughter. They allow people to take stock and make realistic action plans. The presence of disinterested trainers, on hand to help in whatever way they can, is, undoubtedly, the icing on the cake.

So, please don't write off classrooms. Think of them as one of many options and work out when inviting people into one might be the best way to achieve a goal.

Peter Honey FRSA, FCIPD, FIMC is a chartered psychologist and founder of Peter Honey Publications. He can be contacted at peterhoney1@btinternet.com or via www.peterhoney.org