Definition
The degree to which a learner holds onto knowledge or skills over time after instruction, measured by their ability to recall information or perform tasks at a later date without re-teaching.
Plain English
How much a student actually remembers and can still use after the lesson is over.
Context Anchor
Seen in instructor discussions of oral assessment, review questions, and checking whether earlier training has actually stayed with the learner.
Derivation
Retention comes from the Latin retinere, meaning 'to hold back' or 'keep.' In teaching, it refers to what the learner keeps in their head after the lesson ends — not just what they understood in the moment.
Why Pilots Care
Instructors must design lessons so critical aviation knowledge and procedures remain usable for safe flight operations long after the training session ends.
Intuition Check
Learner retention does not mean keeping a student enrolled in training. Here it means keeping learned material available in the student’s mind so it can be used later.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor used short oral quizzes at the start of each lesson to check learner retention from the previous session.
Example Sentence 2
Poor learner retention showed up when the student could not recall the crosswind landing technique during the next flight.