In the past month, coincidentally, I have qualified as a volunteer assistant teacher to help people with literacy and computer skills, and as a volunteer trainer at a large eastern suburbs dog obedience club.

What I had not expected was how similar the pedagogical skills are. Of course, any experienced teacher is going to say, “Well, der; that’s so obvious – it applies to every student”. But much of it was new to me, whether broad principle or particular tactic.

When it comes to dog training, first train the human.Credit: iStock

For example, it was emphasised that with any group, the lessons should be interesting, accessible, engaging and enjoyable – something I didn’t really appreciate as a philosophy tutor at Melbourne........

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