Following the 2026 programme of Training Centre Support Visits across the country, a recurring grey area of understanding amongst instructors became clear. Most were not clear on 1) what a Session Plan is and what a Learning Outcome is.
Often, the Session Plan can seem like something that has always just been expected of an instructor, but staying aware of it's purpose within the Irish Sailing Learning Framework is important. The purpose of a session plan is to support the development of sailors skills during your training. For session plans, you can use Irish Sailing templates or develop your own, but at the core of each session plan should be:
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Learning Outcome: what skills do I want my learners to develop in this session.
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Teaching Points: what are the different elements that make up that skill? Identifying these accurately allows you to break the skill into achievable steps.
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The task: what task or exercise can I use to give learners the opportunity to access, practise and develop that skill? The exercise is the crucial medium for learning.
Consideration of the sailing area is necessary as well as the current level of your learners, which then allows you to adapt a session plan effectively to your group.
On the other hand, a Learning Outcome is a clear and concise statement of what a sailor will know, understand, or be able to do by the end of a specific session. For example, if the focus is tacking, the Learning Outcome might be for sailors to: “Tack the boat while maintaining control and balance.” Once the instructor knows what skill development is trying to be achieved, the teaching points and exercises that best support it can be decided.
When looking for Learning Outcomes, the Irish Sailing Instructor Handbook comes in useful. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) describe measurable actions and standards that sailors should demonstrate and can be used to help define appropriate Learning Outcomes for your session. Integrating these concepts into the planning process will help to design activities where the intended learning is clear and outcomes can be effectively achieved.