The one thing about teaching your boss wants you to know

Ask, don't tell your Students

As the traditional role of Teacher / Instructor expands to include include that of Mentor / Coach / Facilitator, educators need a greater degree of flexibility and skill in navigating the different leadership roles.

Experienced teachers know that when they TELL their students why they should do something, what to do, how to do it... they are decreasing the learning; and when they ASK students why they should do something, what they think they should do, how they think they should do it, they are increasing the learning. 

Hersey-Blanchard’s model of Situational Leadership is a useful model for illustrating the range of leadership roles that an educator chooses from. Indeed these are the same roles that are being taught and trained in the World of Business and Industry. So, why not in Education?It takes self-control and confidence in one's leadership to shift focus from telling to asking.

It is the quality of the questions that influences the process of putting the responsibility for learning where it belongs - with the student.

​In the long-run, asking questions, is worth it because students become self-motivated learners.


'Asking Questions' is where Coaching and Teaching meet up, collide, and merge.

• Meet up, in the sense that both ask questions.
• Collide in the sense that the questions are for different purposes.
• Merge in the sense that both are used for learning.