Command style (A-B): "In the Command style, the teacher is in total control. the pupils do what the teacher tells them to and they are given no freedom to make decisions for themselves." F Galligan et al. This style of teaching is where the teacher gives the pupils an activity they must do in a particular way, e.g. (football) dribble a football through some cones. It works best with larger groups of beginners because the teacher is in control. It's the best way to teach a new skill in a part by part method. It doesn't allow much time for individual feedback or assistance. It can get boring for pupils that learn faster because they have no input.
Reciprocal style (C): "Reciprocal style allows the learner slightly more freedom. The teacher is still setting the tasks, but the learner is more involved." F Galligan et al. In this style the pupils work in pairs and give each other feedback as to how they’re doing, e.g. (football) one person throws the ball the other heads it give each other feedback on the throw and the head, (tennis) forehand or backhand rally. Pupils can be split into smaller groups which allows them to give each other feedback this can also be a disadvantage if the feedback they are given is wrong. This method is best to develop a group of skills using either part by part or whole method. It can help increase social skills because of learning to make and accept criticism. If the skills of the pairs are unbalanced it can also have an adverse affect on their learning. It is suitable for intermediate learners e.g. after 3 or so weeks of PE lessons or for a slightly older age group.
Guided discovery (G-J): "Styles H-J are all discovery or problem solving approaches. They involve the teacher setting a task and the learners creating or discovering their own solutions." F Galligan et al. In H the teacher still has some input e.g. the learner must make up a gymnastics routine to a set piece of music. J is where the pupil is given most freedom to complete the activity e.g. again making up a gymnastics routine but this time they can also chose the music they wish to do it to. It relies on pupil already knowing the basic skills and when to use them, so if they don’t know when to use them, this method can’t help them to learn new ways of completing the activity. Pupils are generally older and therefore more responsible which allows this method to work
The style of teaching the teacher should use will always be different for different sized and ability groups. A larger majority of students will have a better chance of succeeding when using different teaching styles because different students learn differently and also, students will succeed more if they were given longer time periods to learn. However during a school PE lesson there is not always time for everybody to learn all the skills they are taught, and so varying the styles of teaching over the weeks to help everyone to learn the different skills is the best way to get the good results.
Bibliography
Advanced PE for Edexcel F Galligan, C Maskery, J Spence, D Howe, T Barry, A Ruston, D Crawford.
