Assessing for quality

I guess that most of you drive and here in the UK once you have passed your test then you are able to drive, without any further assessment until you are 70.  So no-one has ever checked whether or not my driving is of a certain standard…is this the same with your training skills?

How often do you assess the standard of your training or that of others who are delivering training for your and your colleagues?  Do you accept that just because they work for a training company that the standard of their training is acceptable?  Bearing in mind that training is an expense to any company you surely want to make sure that you are getting good value for your money?

I believe as professional trainers we should be assessed by our peers & colleagues regularly to help us to ensure that our training sessions are always delivered to an acceptable standard. So as a minimum you as a trainer, or you as a manager employing a trainer should ensure that the session that is being delivered covers different learning styles, is delivered using a variety of teaching methods and that the trainer ensures all parts of the learning cycle are covered.

I have recently assessed some ‘baby’ trainers as part of an accredited course and in some cases their idea of a training session is to talk at the group without any interaction at all.  Yes I know that there are times when you have information to ‘tell’ your group but it is also critical that as trainers we are assessing whether or not learning has taken place.  The idea of formative assessment throughout a training session is key to keeping your learners engaged and to ensure that learning is taking place.

It is also about our professional credibility to ensure that we ‘walk the talk’ and regularly get someone who knows what they are looking for to sit in on our sessions and review our style and techniques.  There is a danger that we get rusty and set in our ways so we also need to be innovative and creative in our delivery style to ensure that our learners do actually learn!

The same goes for the material that we use, this should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it is up to date and relevant to today’s audience, not the audience of 5 years ago!!  Yes I know that there are exercises that I have been using for a while because I know that they work but you still have to ensure that they are relevant to the audience.  This is what is good about having another professional trainer look at your work with a critical but friendly eye to remind us of our training as trainers.

You might find it scary with someone watching you at the back of the room but it will give you some good pointers on how to improve your work which is what we want to be doing – failing that you could always video yourself and self-critique that!!

Thanks for your time, Suzanne Unsworth
www.rubusassociates.co.uk

Measurable learning outcomes

As you know I deliver a number of accredited courses, two of which are qualifications to teach/train others. I have recently completed the delivery of a ‘preparing to teach in the lifelong learning sector’ course (aka PTLLS) with a great group of people.

What happens to me in the weeks after I have assessed their micro-teach I am acutely aware of my own delivery style and whether or not my sessions would pass an assessed observation, whether my session plans would meet the necessary standards and whether or not you can actually measure whether learning has taken place!

It also makes me aware of how loose and vague a lot of learning outcomes are that are being used to deliver training and development programmes as we speak.   It makes me question how the learning will be measured...surely if somebody identified a learning need which led to the training, then there should be some way to measure whether or not the training has met that need?  

Here are some examples here for you to consider:

•     To understand the value of building long term relationships with customers
•     To know best practice in how to handle difficult conversations
•     To be more assertive and confident

My point being, how do you measure these objectives, how will you know that an individual has learnt anything or they just had a nice day out of the office? 

The other issue with unclear learning outcomes, how do you assess the progress of your delegates during the programme? With great difficulty I suggest!  Or as one trainer said to me: ‘you just know that they have got it’.

So this leads me to question how you employ external trainers or training companies, how do you check whether or not they can train & assess, as you want them to? Do you ask the questions about how they will assess whether learning has taken place or not? Or are you sold on their glossy brochure, great sales pitch and the fact that you are buddies with them?

From a business perspective ensuring good value for money has to be a key driver whether or not we are in times of austerity.  You have a responsibility to spend your company’s money wisely and get the best value training for the investment that you are making.  I am not saying that you should always buy the cheapest, nor am I saying that the most expensive will be the best, but you must make your buying decision on who is going to deliver the learning that is required and who will assess it to ensure that the learning has been transferred and that the original learning need is met.

As trainers we also have a duty to ensure that we provide measurable learning outcomes for all our courses and then carry out both formative and summative assessment throughout every programme that we deliver.  We can therefore demonstrate the value of training to the organisation in changing and improving performance and not just by being a nice to have!

Thanks for your time, Suzanne Unsworth

www.rubusassociates.co.uk