Using this model, there are four stages of development that students can find themselves at, these define their level of knowledge and aptitude. Some students reach these stages quicker than others and some find themselves thinking that they are at a level they haven't reached yet. Here is an idea from a discussion from the Karate Underground (and previously on 24fightingchickens) forum that has been elaborated to give students a way of gauging their own progression.
These levels are similar to the older set of 4 belts awarded: white, green, brown and black, this is the predecessor to the set of 10 colours (tabbed colours) we have today. Although these stages are assigned a colour below, being that coloured belt does not automatically mean you will be at that level of development - see the analysis section below for more details once you have read about the 4 stages.
Repetition under direct observation - "you want me to do what?" stage
This person does not know that s/he does not know anything.
Instructor directs all training, student is not allowed to make decisions students does what s/he is told.
Student participates in training - "oh, I get this" stage
This person has learned enough to see that s/he does not know that much.
Instructor coaches the student, student may get to participate in the instruction s/he gets although the instructor is still in absolute control of the task.
Student questioning instructor - "Hmm, I am getting dangerous" stage
This person is pretty good, but has to deliberately think about the task at hand either before or during doing it.
Instructor supports the student, student has become proficient and now asks lots of why questions and cannot abide being told what to do without having the knowledge of why s/he is doing it. Student allowed to see something of what the techniques are and be treated like the instructor's peer.
Student learning on his/her own - "I can play this; thanks I'll call you if I need your help" stage
This person can do whatever s/he needs to do without thinking about it.
Instructor delegates to the student, student may train on his/her own or may ask the instructor to work on certain things. Instructor may tell student to work on things whilst other students are being drip-fed and be available for questions.
It is almost impossible to say which of the 4 stages your karate fits into as there are different areas of karate (even down to technique level) which can be at different levels of competence. For example a student may be a stage 4 (unconsciously competent) for Mae geri, a stage 3 (consciously competent) for mawashi geri and a stage 2 (consciously incompetant) for ushiro geri. This situation would mean that the student is able to perform a mae geri without too much concentration and their technique is excellent, but their mawashi geri takes considerable concentration but their technique is still excellent/very good; however their ushiro geri is not excellent (ranges from poor through to good) and the student is aware that they need to work harder to get the technique correct.
Honesty is required to progress in karate, students need to be objective when assessing their own technique and be able to accept advice and constructive criticism without 'taking it personally'. All karateka at some point will be told that one of their techniques that they thought was good, needs some modification (large or small) - how they deal with this information is critical! Changing a technique is often difficult as it becomes a reflex action if you have been training for a long time, repeated practise is required and also an understanding of why the technique needs to be changed - what the student will gain from this change.
There is another scale of development which fits the same style as this but only has three categories:
Cognitive - Learning
Associative - Practising
Autonomous - Skilled (automatic)
Cognitive covers the 'white belt' (unconsciously incompetant) stage from above and autonomous covers the 'black belt' (unconsciously competant) stage. This leaves associative covering the intermediate secions of 'green belt' (consciously incompetant) and 'brown belt' (consciously competant) as both of these involve conscious actions - this is the learning part, where students have to think whilst training to get from always making mistakes to getting it right.
In Karate terms, this is not 100% accurate as the black belt level is not the final stage of learning! Shodan (1st Dan) is merely the conclusion of the gathering of basic knowledge, which is then used in different ways to progress to a new level. Many instructors have described recently promoted shodan students as 'just starting to learn Karate'; this would seem a harsh way to describe them but essentially this is true. They now have most of the moves in the repertoire, but do not have the full depth of understanding to use them to their fullest potential, these extra points which are learned in the steps from Shodan to Sandan (3rd Dan) include: Breathing, Transfer of weight whilst moving through stances, Minimal hip movement for maximum effect, Advanced kata, Bunkai of kata (inclusive of working it out for themselves), Commonalities between techniques and how to apply ideas from one technique to another, Personalising Karate to themselves and more. Students are usually allowed/asked to teach at the black belt level and this again proves to be an effective learning method as the students question techniques they have been doing for a long time when trying to give an explanation to lower grade students. It needs noting that the same graduated levels apply to teaching Karate as they do to learning Karate; instructors with many years of experience can teach a class without the need for a formalised lesson plan, formalised direction changes and formalised fall back plans. Please note: These three ideas will be discussed in a new section currently being written on instruction and instructors.
