Much flight training is done with a single instructor assigned to each student. The concept is that this will be the most efficient way to transfer the skills to the student. This method presupposes that all instructors will be equally competent, and equally compatible with all students. Using multiple instructors with a single student is often considered less efficient because it presupposes that all of the instructors will be equally competent, and compatible with each student!
I think we should understand that the problems of instruction are the same with both approaches. The disadvantage of a group is primarily one of communication. Usually several instructors will not have the same personal connection to a student’s progress that one will. The downside to the single instructor approach is that instructor competency and compatibility with a student may not be overcome by the communication advantages.
Are there any advantages to the group approach? Student’s can benefit greatly from the broader
experience of the group, and have a better chance to overcome any negative compatibility issues. The challenge for the instructors is to improve the communication. This is done both by using uniform curriculum and instructional techniques, and by good communication amongst the group of instructors. It also calls for a high degree of trust between the student and the instructors.
Both systems can produce competent pilots. Again the basic curriculum and instructional techniques can be applied to both systems. Personally I believe that the group approach can give students a richer experience. Properly executed, it will not take any significantly longer time than the single instructor approach. It does require a group of instructors that follow the same basic philosophy and are open to one another. Failures with students should be viewed as a problem to be solved by the group, rather than the failure of a single instructor. This is not to say that during a particular stage of training that a student might not be paired up with a specific instructor for some time. This can be very beneficial. The argument is that it is possible for the student to access the strengths of a number of instructors rather than those of just one.