Reimagining Ground School: From Lectures To Learning

Through this article, Bricker highlights Porter Airlines’ shift to a facilitation-based ground school model that integrates SOPs, CRM and real-world scenarios to foster critical thinking and pilot mindset. He emphasizes student engagement, reciprocal feedback and shared responsibility as core drivers of more effective, competency-driven pilot training

As pilot training evolves to meet the demands of modern aviation, the ground school classroom remains one of the most overlooked opportunities for transformation. While the simulator and flight deck often take the spotlight, the ground school and theory portion of the training is the first true learning environment at any airline and must reflect the best of what we know about competency development, instructional psychology and andragogy.

In the Dash 8 Training Department at Porter Airlines, we asked ourselves some fundamental questions to ensure we were engaging our adult learners, for example: How can our students immediately apply the knowledge they are learning? How do we ensure that the students understand the expectations of the phases of training? How can we get the most involvement and engagement of students during what is normally a didactic learning environment? What resources do our instructors and students need to enhance engagement?

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.” - C.S. Lewis.

At the heart of this transformation is a shift from teaching to facilitation. No longer is the instructor a lecturer dispensing information from the front of the room in our classrooms. We have embraced a facilitated model where the instructor becomes a guide, helping students uncover meaning, engage with content and apply knowledge to real-world scenarios. These models intertwine Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) emergency procedures and aircraft systems with Crew Resource Management (CRM). Ground school then becomes an active learning environment where questions are as important as the answers and reflection drives engagement through meaningful discussion.

"We have embraced a facilitated model where the instructor becomes a guide, helping students uncover meaning, engage with content and apply knowledge to real-world scenarios"

This is not a soft approach. In fact, it demands more from instructors and students alike. Facilitated learning places an obligation on instructors to be prepared not just with content, but with techniques that promote interaction, support psychological safety and challenge learners to grow. It also asks students to take ownership of their development, as they are required to collaborate, question, challenge each other and think critically.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” - Benjamin Franklin. Facilitated learning aligns perfectly with competency-based training (CBT) and evidence-based training (currently a hot topic among aviation training professionals). Rather than just testing rote memory, the ground school becomes a space to assess communication, decision-making and threat management, all within a structured, student-centric framework. Concepts like CRM, CFIT awareness and low-visibility procedures come alive when embedded in practical scenarios, not just another “slide deck”.

Our model involves strategic and templated reflective questions during and post classroom training, encouraging the students to remain engaged and come to class prepared to demonstrate their knowledge The shift to facilitated learning gives students greater autonomy in their learning journey, helping them develop critical soft skills such as leadership, judgement, CRM and pilot decision making (PDM) - developing the pilot mindset.

Student pilots gain first hand experiences with how their approach, judgement and decisions surrounding their training ultimately determine their level of success. They learn not only the technical and operational aspects of flying but the difficultto-teach skills of resourcefulness and accountability. They are able to experience in real time the benefits that active listening and participation have on their development as contributing students—skills that are the real difference between ‘someone who can fly an airplane’ and ‘a pilot.’

As the saying goes, “Great pilots are made, not born. A [person] may possess good eyesight, sensitive hands and perfect coordination but the end result is only fashioned by steady coaching, much practice and experience,” (Johnson 1964).

Facilitative learning in and of itself exercises and bridges the gap between technical and non-technical skills and promotes the realisation of one’s role as a pilot in a dynamic, complex and high- stakes environment. Ground school becomes a place not only for learning procedures, but a playground for manifesting, visualising and exercising the linkages of the knowledge and tools necessary for success in their training and overcoming the real challenges of a pilot.

This would not be possible without a robust system of reciprocal feedback associated with this interactive teaching style, which is continuous. Our instructors and standards pilots rely on our student’s qualitative input and quantitative training outcomes to make ongoing refinements, ensuring we don’t just train harder, but smarter and more efficiently. Every aspect of the training experience becomes a part of the lesson plan. The students end up being agents in designing future iterations of the program.

Ultimately, this approach is a cultural shift. We are pivoting from a philosophy of “prove yourself” to a “we’ll train you to succeed” model. We reinforce Porter’s values from day one, ensuring that both instructors and students share the same expectations—especially the same commitment to learning. The result is a more competent, confident and connected pilot workforce. We believe that, in the end, we are developing a ground school that earns its place as a new foundational practice.