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MCM180
MCM180's picture
Credentials to be a credible dojo owner?

Hi all,

I asked this in another thread and someone expressed interest, so I'll post it as its own topic that might get a different viewing audience.

What martial arts credentials do you all think are necessary and/or nice to have to run or open a dojo? I'm not talking about business skills or things like that (which are obviously beneficial). And I'm assuming that one works on being a good teacher. I'm just talking about evidence that one is effective at a martial art or as a martial art instructor.

For example: should one necessarily have reached shodan or higher? Or is it just a "nice to have"?  I realize one can be a shodan and a lousy instructor, and one can be an effective instructor at brown belt or below. But does the lack of a black belt reduce one's credibility so low that one shouldn't even bother with a dojo without one?

What other credentials ought one to have? E.g., experience as a grader in others' belt tests? I can't think of a lot of examples here.

And what non-credentialed experience should one have? X number of seminars attended, for example, or trained under X number of different people?

A different way to ask the question is...if I hope to open a dojo someday, what does the path from zero to dojo need to include, and what should I pick up along the way if I can?

Thanks in advance.

Christian

Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture

Hi Christian 

In Uk there is (if I'm right) no regulation about opening dojo or instructor qualification, please correct me if I am wrong. This was a big surprise for me moving here from Poland, where you had to go through national instructor course and have minimum of 4th kyu. 

If you want to open dojo and be a quality teacher, join in with some respected organisation which suits you, for example WCA, and learn from Iain, or any other organisation which you thing  have quality that you are looking for. Being a part of bigger umbrella organisation will give you better deal on insurance and provide access to top teachers where you can improve your skills. 

Kind regards

Les

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

When it comes to running a school, it isn't so important what other martial artists think you need, as what the uneducated public (who will be your students in the future) think you need. The first thing they want to know is if you're a black belt, and they will probably pass if you're not, although the general public doesn't understand the degrees of black belt, so that's less of an issue, although may help in some cases. For the most part, a black belt, years of experience training, years of experience teaching, and an affiliation with either a reputable organization or more-established school/instructor are probably going to be the most important things for the general public to get them in the door. After that, it's going to be their interactions with you that matter.

OhioMike
OhioMike's picture

In the US at least, the lack of a black belt would be a deal killer for most students. Since most people join a school with at least the thought of getting a black belt in the future, training under a brown belt would not be something they are interested in. The other point is that a lot of the times students don't understand the difference between arts with extremely long black belt paths and the 1-2 year Mcdojo's they just want to learn "martial arts" whatever that means to them personally.  So of course while you are right that combative skill and black belt are not equivalent statements that is the perception of most people in my experience. 

In my school a Shodan is usually an assistant instructor and Nidan is when one thinks about opening there own dojo. The organization I am affiliated with is a 4 year black belt path (normal for the US, in my expereience), and does not accept belt test results that were not proctored by at least one black belt, although they offer regional belt tests a few times a year so that students can be tested by people other than there teachers (both to keep the judgement standards objective and to give the students wider exposure and appreciation for the arts) so a 1st Kyu could be a head instructor but it would be extremely abnormal. 

All that being said a 1st Kyu could open and run an excellent school, but is not likley to grow much beyond a double handful of students by word of mouth unless the art or the teacher is very unusual.

Chris R
Chris R's picture

The other posts answered the first part of your question well, so I might add my perspective on the second part of your question. Bear in mind this is just my opinion, and that I am not an instructor or dojo owner myself. Anyway here it is …

In terms of “other credentials” or “non-credential experience,” I think you should consider what you will teach specifically as an instructor. If you just want to teach plain Karate that is fine, but if you want to teach it from a certain angle or approach, then you need to have the necessary credentials to do so. For example, if you want to teach students who will enter into point sparring competitions, I think you need to have experience and a history of competing in those competitions yourself. Another example is if you want to teach students stuff they can use for self-defence. In this case you should have an understanding of how violence occurs in the real world, and how to prevent as well as respond to it in a way that is realistic and proven. You might not learn that at your dojo, so if you wanted to teach Karate with that approach, I think you should learn more about this topic somewhere else other than your dojo to ensure you are qualified enough to teach legitimate stuff for self-defence. These are just examples, my overall point is that you have to make sure you are sufficiently skilled, experienced, and qualified to teach what you plan to teach, and that this may require more than holding a certain rank in a Karate system.

Of course none of this may apply to you, but I thought it might be something useful to mention.

Cataphract
Cataphract's picture

A black belt is nice to have, but nothing beats a good reputation. As Leszek wrote some countries have (semi) obligatory instructor courses. That can also can become important when you want to get an insurance.

Marc
Marc's picture

I agree with the above posts.

A black belt would certainly help, because it is expected that at least the head instructor of the dojo holds a black belt.

On the other hand if you decide that everybody in your school, including yourself, wears white karate pants and a black t-shirt, then there is no need for the black belt. You can argue that in your dojo skill matters more than ranks, hence no coloured belts.

What will matter, however, is that you know your stuff well enough to teach it with confidence that it will do your students more good than harm. ;-)

So do your homework on healthy exercise, correct form, the legalities of self-defence in your country, the nature of violence, effectiveness of techniques, or competition rules and the nature of the sport, if that's your thing.

Another must have, in my opinion, is a good teacher of your own. A knowledgeable person you can turn to with questions and with whom you can train for your own development.

Also visit a lot of seminars. Observe good teachers and steal any idea or method that resonates with you. Reject what you don't like, because you are you, and  "in all budo, and not just karate, interpretations of the art by those who are training it differ according to the interpretations of their instructors. Moreover it goes without saying that variations in expression are characteristic of each individual." (Funakoshi)

Being part of an association of some kind also helps. You can provide your students with recognised grading tests. You can take an instructor course, which not only makes you a "licensed instructor" but will hopefully teach you some good things about teaching as well. You can take an examiner course to become a "licensed examiner", so you can hold exams in your dojo.

All the best, and take care

Marc  

Ian H
Ian H's picture

MCM180 wrote:

What martial arts credentials do you all think are necessary and/or nice to have to run or open a dojo?  .... I'm just talking about evidence that one is effective at a martial art or as a martial art instructor.

And what non-credentialed experience should one have? X number of seminars attended, for example, or trained under X number of different people?

A different way to ask the question is...if I hope to open a dojo someday, what does the path from zero to dojo need to include, and what should I pick up along the way if I can?

Credentials are proof that you probably have skills, to show to people who don't know what those skills look like or who don't have time to see if you actually have the skills.  

First, check your local karate governing body to see what requirements they have ... probably a certain Dan grade, and a criminal records check at a minimum ... for a starting point.  Then I'd add some sort of first aid certificate and, if possible, something certifying training along the lines of whatever you want to teach: sport karate? ... what coaching certificates are on offer in your country?  Self-defence? ... can you get something from the WCA or similar?  And so forth. 

Then there's the issue of what the general public, from whom you draw your whitebelt beginning students, want to see.  Dan-grade at a minimum.  Membership in whatever local/state/national karate organisation there is.  Beyond that, bells and whistles will impress some, and not so much others, but it can't hurt.

What you really need is the abilites and knowledge to "back it up" and be a good dojo leader & teacher.  Some people have more natural talent than others, of course, but this is a skill that can be taught and learned.  So get cracking.  Be open to feedback and constructive criticism.  People ... students, parents, so forth ... will see the results as the "rubber meets the road" in your efforts, and react accordingly: stay or leave, and tell others in either case.

Neil Babbage
Neil Babbage's picture

I would also add that having things like a REPS Level 3 Personal Trainer qualification are generally useful. Many people (at least where I live) join karate clubs for fitness, self-defence and fun in that order. Having a qualification that shows you know how to train for fitness safely is very appealing.

Bob Davis
Bob Davis's picture

How about turning the question around the other way.

For those already teaching, how often have you ever actually been asked about your qualifications and if so, have you ever been asked to provide documentary evidence of those qualifications for viewing?

I have carried around a folder with my insurance, certificates, DBS (CRB) checks etc. for around 10 years now and have never once (outside of teaching in the school system) been asked to show any of it.

Marc
Marc's picture

Bob Davis wrote:

I have carried around a folder with my insurance, certificates, DBS (CRB) checks etc. for around 10 years now and have never once (outside of teaching in the school system) been asked to show any of it.

Good point. Do you advertise any of those on your website/leaflets/...? It may be that no one asked because people felt it was enough to read that you have those. - Or people just don't care.

I also think it is important in this discussion that we always state where in the world we are, because it seems that the situation depends on country or region.

tubbydrawers
tubbydrawers's picture

marc wrote:
I also think it is important in this discussion that we always state where in the world we are, because it seems that the situation depends on country or region

I am in Australia - I have been asked once in about 9 odd years for the Insurance Policy (by a parent)  / never for the Government Accreditation card / Never for the Working With Children Check - apart from the school I teach in / Never for the 1st Aid Certificate I have either.

Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture

Hi I'm personal trainer level 3, I stopped being part of the REPS as they are useless. I teach in UK for 9 years and I'm regularly asked about insurance and DBS. Mainly by organisations as I work a lot with charities and with vulnerable adults. Also as I mentioned before I'm surprised that in UK there is no regulation/qualification for teaching Karate. In September I'm going to do qualification to teach Karate to disable people which is a good step forward as it is supported by government. Kind regards

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Les Bubka wrote:
I'm surprised that in UK there is no regulation/qualification for teaching Karate.

There has been a few, but they were never universal because there is no single body overseeing the whole of karate in the UK. I was involved with the old EKGB one and it was very good. I was an assessor for the process. There was a need for first aid training, CRB (DBS) checks, insurance, observation of teaching, checks on accident books, record keeping, risk assessments, etc. It did encourage best practise and was easy for all good instructors to quickly get in place. It did not take a lot of time, nor was it costly. Changes in personnel and political organisation saw it come to an end.

All the best,

Iain

Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture

Thanks Iain, 

Usual thing with the governing bodies, all over the world  unfortunatly. 

Kind regards

Les

Tau
Tau's picture

Not sure how much this is answering your question or how much is off on a tangent, but IMHO, the essentials the opening or running a dojo are:

- Demonstrable technical skill, be it through a "black belt" or whatever

- Demonstrable teaching skills, be it though an appropriate teaching qualification. Quite what that would be is another debate

- Insurance (in the UK profesional indemnity and public liability)

- An appropriate first aid qualification

- In the UK a CRB/DBS certificate

- Demonstrable risk assessment skills or access to somethat that has

Things change. Standards change. Initiatives happen. I endeavour to always be ahead of whatever changes come about. I met all bar one of those when I opened my dojo some 13 years ago, now I massively surpasss them. My feeling is that on a forum of serious martial artists like ourselves most of us probably do.

Anf
Anf's picture

As a student, I want a teacher that has what I want. When I was right at the beginning of my journey, I wouldn't want a teacher that was less than black belt, even though such a person would almost certainly have a lot to teach. I want a black belt, so I'd want to be taught by someone who has proven to other elite martial artists that they know what is required to get a black belt. If I was happy to train up to brown belt, I'd be happy with a brown belt teacher, but who ever joins a martial arts club and thinks to themselves, I'll definitely stop when I'm brown belt.