The principles of teaching and learning describe the conditions that help people understand, retain and apply new knowledge and skills.
I have spent more than 40 years working with teaching and learning – both as a trainer myself and alongside professionals who want to become better at what they do.
In this article, I share seven principles that shape how we design and deliver training at NaviMinds, together with practical examples of how you can apply them in your own teaching.
The seven principles below provide a practical framework for designing training that helps learners engage with, understand, practise and retain what they learn.
People learn better when they can see why something matters to them.
As trainers, we may think that the relevance of the topic is obvious. Our learners won’t necessarily see it the same way. What they pay attention to and engage with is influenced by what they already know, their experience, motivation and the relevance they attach to the subject.
Before deciding how to teach something, we must consider what learners already know, what they need to be able to do and how the subject connects with their own working environment.
This principle has roots in educational psychology. American psychologist Edward Thorndike’s early work on learning included the concept of readiness: whether the learner is prepared and motivated to act affects the learning experience.
One exercise I use with trainers is to ask them to imagine that everyone in the room is given exactly the same newspaper.
“Imagine you and I read every page of the same newspaper carefully. Once we’re both done reading, we each describe what we have learned from it.”
Will we have learned the same thing?
Probably not.
If you own shares in Novo Nordisk, you may immediately notice a story about the company. If you’re a passionate football fan, your attention may instead be drawn to a story about your team.
We were exposed to exactly the same information, but our exisiting knowledge, experiences and interests influenced what we noticed and remembered.
The same thing happens in a training room. Presenting everyone with the same information doesn’t mean everyone will learn the same thing from it.
For trainers, the practical lesson is simple: connect new material to something learners already know or recognise. Ask about their experience, use examples from their working environment and make the relevance explicit rather than assuming they will find it themselves.
Before or during your next session, ask yourself:
Learners can learn just as much (if not even more) from questioning, challenging and sharing experiences with each other.
When learners work together, they have to explain their thinking, listen to different perspectives and sometimes reconsider their own assumptions. Instead of simply receiving information from the trainer, they become part of creating the learning.
I once walked into a room of ten pilots and could immediately sense that they did not want to be there.
Their company had recently merged with another airline, and as part of the merger they were required to attend a Crew Resource Management conversion course. Their resistance wasn’t really about me or the training. It was about the change they felt had been imposed on them.
Every question I asked was met with silence. So I changed the setup.
Instead of continuing to ask questions in plenary, I divided them into small groups and gave them something to discuss together. It’s relatively easy to ignore the trainer at the front of the room. It’s much harder to ignore the colleague sitting next to you.
Suddenly, they started talking. Experiences, opinions and reflections began to surface – not because I demanded participation, but because they were responding to one another.
This experience reinforced something I have seen many times: the trainer doesn’t always need to be at the centre of the learning. Sometimes our job is to create the conditions that allow participants to learn from each other.
Cooperative learning doesn’t require a complicated exercise. Ask learners to discuss a question in pairs before bringing it back to the room, give a small group a problem to solve, or ask participants to compare how they would handle the same situation.
Before your next session, ask yourself:
Learning isn’t a spectator sport. Learners must do something with what they’re learning: question it, discuss it, connect with it, practise it or apply it.
When students are actively involved in the learning task, they learn more than when they are passive recipients of instruction.
Learning is an active process. It isn’t something that’s done to learners; it’s something they must do themselves.
One simple truth I’ve learned: learners are far more motivated by their own words than by mine.
Our own thoughts take up more space in our minds than someone else’s. This means every time I step back, create space and let learners do the talking, I give them greater ownership of the learning.
For example, rather than introducing a topic by immediately showing a model or definition, I might start with a scenario and ask the learners:
What do you think is happening here?
What would you do next? Why?
Only afterwards we I introduce the theory and connect it to what the group has already discovered. The same applies after an exercise. Rather than telling participants what they were supposed to learn, I ask:
What did you notice?
What surpriseed you?
Why do you think that happened?
The more learners have to put ideas into their own words, make connections and draw conclusions, the more actively they are working with the material.
Give your learners a problem to solve, ask them to predict what might happen if X happens, let them discuss a scenario, or ask them to explain an idea in their own words.
Before you next session, ask yourself:
Learners are far more likely to engage when they understand why something matters to them, believe they can succeed and feel some ownership over the learning process.
This is particularly important when training is mandatory. We can require someone to attend a course, but we cannot require them to be interested in it. As trainers, our job is therefore to create the conditions that make learners want to engage.
If learners cannot see how a topic relates to their role or challenges, their attention quickly disappear. As trainers we can enhance motivation by making clear to learners the outcomes expected from their learning.
Research on motivation also points to the importance of learner autonomy: when learners experience a greater sense of choice and control over their learning, motivation and engagement increases.
Even in highly regulated training, we can give learners meaningful choice: what problem to explore, which experience to discuss or where they personally want to improve.
There are many techniques we use, but two of the simplest can be applied in almost any training session.
1. Put some responsibility for relevance in the learner’s hands
Our courses often bring together participants with different roles, operational backgrounds, nationalities and levels of experience. It’s impossible to make every example equally relevant to everyone.
So early in the course, we show participants this:
Rather than promising that every example will fit every participant’s operation, we ask learners to actively look for the connection themselves.
“How could this apply in my operational reality?”
It’s a small intervention, but it changes the learner’s role. Relevance isn’t something the trainer alone has to provide, the learner is invited to actively find it.
2. Set objectives learners can realistically achieve
The expectations we create can also influence motivation. Consider objectives such as:
They sound impressive, but can we realistically promise either after a few hours of training?
Instead, we prefer objectives that describe the progress:
The different may seem small, but the expectation is fundamentally different. We’re not promising transformation after a single training session. We’re asking learners to develop from where they are now.
Realistic goals make the progress achievable, which itself can be motivating.
Before you next session, ask yourself:
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Learners bring different experiences, abilities and preferences into your training room. As trainers, we don’t need to design a different course for every learner. But we shouldn’t rely on the same teaching method all day either.
You may have heard people described as visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learners. While people certainly have preferences, research does not support the idea that matching instruction to a person’s supposed fixed learning style improves learning.
Instead, consider what you’re trying to achieve. Different teaching methods serve different purposes.
If I want learners to understand a concept, I might use a diagram. If I want them to consider different perspectives, I’ll introduce group discussion. And if I want them to develop a skill, they need an opportunity to practise it.
We rarely rely on one training method for very long. Depending on the purpose of the session, we combine slides, questions, videos, case studies, group discussions, individual reflection and exercises.
Here are four tools I personally find myself coming back to:
1 PowerPoint
Despite its reputation, PowerPoint is an excellent training tool when used well. I use slides to illustrate a concept, highlight an important point or visualise something that would otherwise be difficult to explain.
2. Flip charts
I love using flip charts because they capture what happens in the room. I can write down participants’ ideas, leave them visible and return to them later. At the end of a session, I often flip back through the pages we’ve created together and ask: “What’s your takeaway from today?”.
3. Slido or Kahoot
Digital polls and quizzes are useful for changing the dynamic. I might use a poll to surface different opinions before a discussion or a short quiz to get everyone involved in the session. They’re especially useful for giving quieter participants an opportunity to contribute.
4. Images and illustrations
Diagrams, photographs and simple illustrations can make abstract concepts easier to understand and remember. This is also supported by Allan Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory, which suggests that combining verbal and visual information can support learning and recall.
When planning your next session, ask yourself:
Learning takes time. Learners need opportunities to process new information, practise what they’ve learned and apply it before we can expect them to use it.
Think of your first driving lesson. You probably didn’t start on a busy highway at night. You started somewhere relatively simple, had time to practise and gradually worked your way towards more challenging situations.
The same principle applies in any other training scenario. Yes, as trainers, we often fall into the trap of focusing on everything we need to cover.
“Today we’ll cover”
“I covered that before the last check”
The problem is that covering something doesn’t mean it has been learned.
As Wiggins and McTighe (2005) point out, the metaphor of “covering” suggests something superficial, like spreading a bedcover over a surface. We may get through everything on our agenda without giving learners the opportunity to understand or apply what matters.
If we’re teaching communication, let learners communicate. If we’re teaching decision-making, give them a decision to make. And if we’re teaching them to assess behaviour, give them behaviour to observe and assess.
Whenever I design a training session, there’s almost always more content I could include than time available.
To avoid rushing through everything, I divide the content (before I enter the classroom) into three categories:
When time becomes tight, I start by removing the could-haves, followed by the should-haves if necessary. That way, I can protect the time learners need to understand, discuss and practise the essential material, rather than rushing through everything I’ve prepared.
It’s tempting to fill every available minute with content. But a discussion may turn out to be more valuable than expected, an exercise may reveal something the group needs to explore further, or learners may ask questions you hadn’t anticipated.
Before your next session, ask yourself:
A good training plan gives you enough structure to know where you’re going and enough flexibility to respond to what happens in the room.
Feedback is one of the most valuable tools we have as trainers. Done well, it can guide learning, build confidence and encourage improvement. On the flipside, vague and judgemental feedback can leave learners unsure of what to change.
The key is to focus on specific, observable behaviours rather than general judgements.
For example, “Good job” may feel encouraging, but it doesn’t tell the learner what they should continue doing. Likewise, “your communication wasn’t good enough” gives them very little idea of what to change.
Compare that with:
“I noticed that when the situation became more stressful, you continued to ask the other team members for input before making the decision.”
Now the learner knows exactly which behaviour was effective and what they should continue doing.
Many trainers will be familiar with the traditional feedback burger: start with something positive, deliver the criticism and finish with something positive.
At NaviMinds, we take a slightly different approach. Here’s how we structure our feedback:
1 Start with the learner
Before giving your assessment, ask: How do you feel it went? / What are your thoughts on the session?
By doing this you make your learners an active part of the conversation. When learners feel their voice matters, they tend to be more honest, more curious, and more open to exploring their own learning.
2. Highlight specific positives
Reinforce specific behaviours you observed.
For example:
“I noticed that you stayed calm when the situation changed and clearly confirmed who was responsible for each task.”
The learner now knows exactly what worked and what they should continue doing.
3. Use questions to explore what could improve
Rather than you explaining what they did wrong, ask questions that help learners evaluate their own behaviours/decisions:
Whenever possible, let the learner identify opportunities for improvement before offering your own observations.
4. Finish with what to take forward
End by making sure the learner leaves knowing what to continue doing and what to do next.
Before giving feedback, ask yourself:
These seven principles provide a practical foundation for designing and delivering more effective training.
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