I know that Ken Rockwell is reviled by many and don't look beyond his reviews but tucked away on his site he has, what I think, is one of the best bits of advice I've read on the interweb for photographers wanting to improve their pictures:
Many years ago when I read on his website something like, 'I may not always be accurate/tell the truth' to essentially provoke traffic to his site, that was enough for me to steer clear, and advise others to steer clear, particularly beginners, who could 'learn' something that is wrong, just because someone benefits from the 'engagement' caused by controversy.
I used to teach photography (and photoshop and ICT) courses for the local adult learning service. I approached it from the technical point of view first, with more basic artistic aspects later in the course. I wanted people to at least be able to use the equipment they had to get whatever effect they would want in the scene they were looking at at the end of the course. That meant also thinking about what and why settings are used for certain types of images. Fast/slow shutter speed, shallow/deep depth of field, the effects of ISO, and then seeing how much control they may have over such settings on the cameras they own, and the range of cameras was sometimes large. For some that was using the scene modes to get an effect, for others it was directly changing the settings.
I stopped doing them when my then manager said that she wanted the learners to go to art gallery's as part of the course, as well as work towards the learners putting on an exhibition at the end of the course. I said that was not appropriate, and that I didn't have time, or the opportunity, in the 8-10 weeks of the course. Especially for a lot of people coming to classes after work. She said "well that is what I want". Thankfully I was in a position to say get someone else to do the course then.
The service has had two different photography tutors since then, but sadly, because of funding, we no longer offer photography courses, and the range of courses we offer has decreased significantly. I'm happy I got the chance to go on some photography courses (before I was teaching) when I was coming back to photography with digital, and happy I was teaching during the camera boom time, when there was funding for a wider range of courses available, and lots of people interested.
For some people learning in a classroom (or workshop), with someone (hopefully) knowledgeable,
to ask questions, and get demonstrations, works well for them. It is sad for a lot of people who would gain from that, the opportunities are gone, or are at least very limited, compared to a few years ago, at least from a lot of local authorities. Private lessons are always an option, though pricier option, though that would probably be less formal, which may not suit some.
It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, this new government makes to education, pre and post 19.
