What is Training of Trainers?

Posted: 12/10/2016

12 October 2016 - RPS Partnership

Every thought about training your staff to be Trainers, whether in the UK or overseas?

Have a look here to see our work with trainee Trainers; Syrian trainees - we have been training and mentoring since 2015 and Libyan trainees since the beginning of 2016.

RPS Partnership and its consultants have been running Train the Trainer courses overseas for over 18 years.

Train the Trainer (ToT) is a simple way of training those who want to teach adults to actually “teach” them. There are long courses, which you can do over a protracted time and in the long term these are advisable. However everyone has to start somewhere. This is where we start both in the UK and with our overseas trainers.

In the UK, the Level 3 in Education and Training is a perfect solution for those who want to get on the ladder in the training world.

RPS Partnership runs these courses and can accredit the Level 3 certificate. Contact us for more information on [email protected].

Training national staff overseas

RPS Partnership and its qualified teachers have adapted this UK course to take overseas to train local staff who may need certain skills to teach in challenging locations; often conflict or former conflict areas. The advantage is that they can then train their peers in their own language and get to places that foreign trainers often can not reach.

We have successfully run these programmes for staff working and living in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Brazil, Pakistan, Ethiopia and even Finland. We have linked these programmes to basic security and first aid subjects, so that by the end of the training programmes, the students can effectively and safely teach these basic subjects.

How does it work?

We find that we have had the highest success rate when we have run 4 weeks of training; 2 weeks to start followed by a further more advanced programme of another 2 weeks after the students have had some practice at teaching. This time very much depends on whether you need us to teach them the knowledge first. If they can show competency in their own subject then these timeframes may differ.

Interested in training your staff in TOT?

If you think your organisation may benefit from training staff in this way to teach any basic subject, here are some thoughts for you to consider below.

Personal attributes

Trainees should be:
• Enthusiastic and positive in their outlook to training
• Prepared to work long hours to provide good training
• Confident and able to stand up in front of people to public speak
• Empathic to students who are struggling and be prepared to help them
• Prepared to be self critical and be able to improve based on the personal critique given

Trainees must:
• Be experienced in their chosen subject or we can provide training in first aid and security as well
• Be able to use powerpoint and word proficiently 
• They must be able to download video from the internet

Motivation of trainees

The chosen participants will be required to complete a considerable amount of independent reading as well as researching specific topics, applying theory to practical scenarios and demonstrating knowledge and understanding through written work. Therefore, candidates for this course should have good written and verbal communication skills in their own language. They also require a good knowledge of security and first aid subjects and will be tested on this prior to the course and during the course.

Outline of the programme

This British course and qualification sets the minimum standard for all those training adults. It introduces the knowledge and skills required by adult trainers to develop and deliver, in this case, safety and security and first aid training programmes. It allows them to provide learning support and take responsibility for running courses to facilitate the learning process for their colleagues.

The best chance of success of national staff being trained overseas will involve two 14 day training programmes. This is two phases of 14 days of teaching and learning. Contact us on [email protected] for more details of how this works and what subjects are covered. 

What will they learn on the course?

These are the subjects, which will be covered during the two phases of training:
• Roles and responsibilities of a trainer
• Learning styles and preferences
• Planning skills
• Teaching skills
• Teaching practical subjects
• Running exercises and scenario training
• Evaluation - peer and self assessment and evaluation of the course
• Logistics of running a course in the region/country

Assessment

The standards for Training of Trainers for overseas trainees is based on and adapted from the UK standards of the Level 3 in Education and Training. The course is assessed by completing various practical teaching sessions of varying length; from 10-30 mins as well as multiple written tests to assess knowledge. These must be successfully completed by each individual. Self assessment and peer assessment will take place throughout the course. Course evaluation will be completed at the end of each phase.

Watch our ToT video here to get a feel for what we do. The video is taken from our ToT courses for Libyan and Syrian staff.

Contact us on [email protected] for more information.

Photos: RPS Partnership training in Oman.

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