I know it's essential to satisfy the awarding bodies but I feel we're losing out somehow.
Only a few more weeks and my one (academic) year course will be complete. VTCT Swedish Massage.
There are several things I'd love to be doing before it ends but all we seem to do during the first half of our class is form-filling.:( Filling, cross-referencing, ticking boxes and numbering pages.
The second half we're massaging and being assessed which is fine but I'd love to see out tutor massaging again (she only really did that at the beginning of the course) and showing us more techniques and practical, hands-on stuff.
It might satisfy the exam boards, all this paperwork but it isn't satisfying me, as a very keen and willing student.
Twohoots ask your tutor, maybe you aren't the only one in your class that feels the same 🙂 He or she will be glad that you did.
Paperwork is essential, think how many students your tutor has and how much paperwork he or she does, cross referencing did my head in I have to say lol
Thanks Jojo - another girl mentioned the other day that she'd like to do a session on a particular technique and was told we'd already covered it. Actually we haven't .... only on paper.
Don't get me wrong the tutor is mostly very good but now I'm nearing the end of my course, and because it is such a practical course anyway, I would have appreciated more demonstrations, more 1-1 and more depth to some of the areas we've covered. I feel there are quite a few gaps in my knowledge and my attendance record is one of the highest, so it's not because of me missing classes.
I guess our tutor must be concentrating on getting all the paperwork complete and, for the practical stuff, just covering it to the letter and no more.
I feel for you! My original massage course was VTCT (as was my separate A&P course) and the box-ticking and list-making drove me mad. I seem to remember it all started with us having list paper and pens for materials we would need to complete the course...
I have to say I felt sorry for both my tutors, having to certify what was a very bureaucratic process. The danger is that in among all this paperwork, the purpose of the course - the massage - can get lost. In fact, good though my massage tutor was (and I already had the A&P so I didn't even have to get to grips with that) during an entire academic year, the massage could probably have been taught in one session.
I'd agree with the above... you should ask the tutor to demonstrate again.
We did cross referencing on the last 2 sessions of college, and from week 2 (on all my courses with VTCT, all 4 and with the same tutor) we did practical and then paying clients from about February (we were ready, because of all the knowledge and help we got), I know I keep saying this but from what I have read about other peoples experience with tutors, mine was the best, very helpful, I haven't been at college for over a year now and I can still go to her for help, she was very passionate about holistic therapies and what she didn't know wasnt worth knowing. I cannot praise her enough.
Let us know how you get on Twohoots 🙂