Improving Professional Skills for Trainers Working with Unemployed Adult Learners in Austria

Trainers in New Star Vocational College (name changed) in Austria are employees who teach unemployed learners. Usually, they have advanced qualifications in other disciplines but not related to adult education. The Austrian labour policy focuses on retraining unemployed people to enter the labour market, a key concern that is given high priority. Therefore, New Star Vocational College relies on these trainers to implement the type of courses offered. In this thesis the perspective is that the trainer has a key role to play and should be adequately prepared in terms of unemployed learners, so as to have an impact on learning outcomes and to improve teaching quality. The research study aims to assess the perception of learners, trainers and the management on how adult learning is viewed in New Star Vocational College, qualities of a good trainer, teaching quality and how improvements can be made to equip the trainers through continuing professional development. Data was collected and analysed using Grounded Theory influenced by the interpretive paradigm, which is discussed in Chapter 3.3. I utilised semi-structured interviews, open-ended questionnaires and documents. Twenty semi-structured interviews were carried out with trainers and managers, while open-ended questionnaires were distributed to 12 adult learners, who all responded. The study finds that trainers are essential to the success of retraining the adult learners. Furthermore, the study was able to identify detailed difficulties and challenges of teaching long- term unemployed learners, and to understand the trainers’ need to find ways to improve their professional skills necessary to teach this target learner. This study concludes that trainer professional development is important with support from managerial systems and other stakeholders. Key suggestions to facilitate improvements to support trainers, learners and institution are well defined. In future research, more data that reflects on this particular situation should be collected

Supporting E-Learning Within a Social Framework

E-learning has become a major delivery platform for higher education, continuing education and corporate training. The majority of e-learning research to date has taken place in academic environments using survey or qualitative research. This study used an experimental design (N = 99) to view three different models for supporting asynchronous e-learning in a corporate setting where learners are geographically distributed. The support interventions were rooted in andragogical principles of learning. Two treatment groups were provided socially engaging proactive models while the control group used a learner directed reactive authoritarian model. The purpose of this study was to see if different variables influenced trainee completion time and retention at six months of employment for new female branch administrators in a financial services company. The goal was to produce a predictive model for employee training completion and retention based upon type of e-learning support and other demographic and observed variables. Data analysis used multiple regression to determine if training completion time could be predicted. There was no significant relationship between any of the variables and time to completion. Logistic regression was used to model prediction of trainees most likely to stay on the job at six months. The only variable approaching significance from that analysis was gender of supervisor. Neither regression analysis resulted in a valid predictive model. This study used an available voluntary sample randomly assigned to treatment groups and tracked through training by dedicated support specialists trained in the different interventions. A larger sample size and different methods of treatment implementation should be studied with this population in the future

Mapping a Journey to Change: Teachers and facilitator learning together

This study describes the perceptions of workshop participants’ experience and their perceptions of their facilitator in four workshops held in three separate settings where we worked together to collaboratively construct knowledge. The purpose of the study was to learn about my practice through critically reflecting on how my personal history, experiences, practical theory and assumptions influenced my role as facilitator and to learn about my practice through the reflected gaze of workshop participants. Data were derived from three sets of daily journals from three workshops and from one focus group interview. I separated the quotes from each workshop into two sets, the participants’ description of their own learning experience and their perceptions of me, the facilitator. I proceeded through the transcripts sequentially according to the date of the workshop. The transcripts were analyzed using a phenomenological approach. I built the themes as I progressed and gained a better sense of what the workshop participants were saying. I used all their quotations. I checked my analysis with research groups three times, and each time it helped me refine the themes. Two sets of themes emerged from the data describing participants’ perceptions of their experience and their perceptions of the facilitator. The theme, learning in a safe environment forms the ground for both sets of themes. It describes the importance of safety and the critical role of the facilitator in creating a safe environment. A safe environment is vital for teachers to take risks in learning and to critically examine their learning and teaching. Facilitators have many roles; the participants described four roles. Creator of a safe learning environment, with four themes characterizes the facilitating role to create an environment where workshop participants can feel accepted, voice their thoughts easily, become a community of learners and realize that it is diversity that contributes to their learning. The role of expert is about the knowledge, skill and experience of the facilitator, which contributes to learning. The role of storyteller helps workshop participants make connections between practice and theory and how stories aid in bringing clarity to understanding. The role of role model is about learning from the actions and behavior of the facilitator. This study shows the significant and multidimensional role of the facilitator in building a learning environment that is non-threatening: where learning can be shared; learning is a collaborative endeavor; is highly interactive and promotes critical self reflection even in settings where there is diversity amongst participants

Trainer talk:structures of interaction in teacher training classrooms

The subject of this research is interaction and language use in an institutional context, the teacher training classroom. Trainer talk is an interactional accomplishment and the research question is: what structures of talk-in-interaction characterise trainer talk in this institutional setting? While there has been research into other kinds of classroom and into other kinds of institutional talk, this study is the first on trainer discourse. The study takes a Conversation Analysis approach to studying institutional interaction and aims to identify the main structures of sequential organization that characterize teacher trainer talk as well as the tasks and identities that are accomplished in it. The research identifies three main interactional contexts in which trainer talk is done: expository, exploratory and experiential. It describes the main characteristics of each and how they relate to each other. Expository sequences are the predominant interactional contexts for trainer talk. But the research findings show that these contexts are flexible and open to the embedding of the other two contexts. All three contexts contribute to the main institutional goal of teaching teachers how to teach. Trainer identity is related to the different sequential contexts. Three main forms of identity in interaction are evidenced in the interactional contexts: the trainer as trainer, the trainer as teacher and the trainer as colleague. Each of them play an important role in teacher trainer pedagogy. The main features of trainer talk as a form of institutional talk are characterised by the following interactional properties: 1. Professional discourse is both the vehicle and object of instruction - the articulation of reflection on experience. 2. There is a reflexive relationship between pedagogy and interaction. 3. The professional discourse that is produced by trainees is not evaluated by trainers but, rather, reformulated to give it relevant precision in terms of accuracy and appropriacy

Situated Andragogy: Exploring the Interrelationships Between People, Place and Practice on Novel Experiential Learning Journeys of Freelance Learner-Practitioners Working in the UK Film and High-End Television Industries

The UK Film and High-End Television production workforce is predominantly employed on a project-by project basis, and employment contracts are often freelance. With the shift in production techniques from analogue (celluloid film) to digital together with the development of new digital technologies, the production workforce needs to engage in continual learning to sustain a career in technical craft areas of film production. Although some training is available through sector bodies such as Skillset, there are a number of barriers to accessing training. For example, the cost of taking time away from self-employed work to engage in the training and the challenge that learner-practitioners need to have a period of working in the industry before they can access some resources can inhibit access to these initiatives. This situation invokes two questions. First, why does operational skills development take place for learner-practitioners working in precarious employment and in the absence of formal training schemes such as those offered by BFI and Skillset? Secondly, if learning is occurring in this precarious workplace setting, can these learning experiences be expressed graphically by way of a learning model? The thesis builds on the relatively un-researched area of experiential learning within the context of a freelance workplace. The contribution of the research lies in the way it considers the lived experiences of learner-practitioners working in, or closely with, the camera production unit, in eight different production contexts, and their personal learning journeys. The research has analysed qualitative data from a series of semi-structured interviews with working practitioners, through the application of four theoretical frameworks: Fiske (1992), Garnett & O’Beirne (2013), Jarvis (2004) and Russ-Eft (2011), identifying patterns and trends in the lived experiences of these practitioners. From this analysis, a model expressing the learner-practitioner’s individual experiential learning journey is proposed. The new model shows how the relationship between people and place influences the experiential learning journey of practitioners. The model structures the range of pathways an individual learner-practitioner can choose to take within their own experiential learning journey. The choice of pathways are not only influenced by external factors, but also influence and inform (and are shaped by) an individual’s approach to learning, leading to the continued development of the learner-practitioners’ practice. The new experiential learning model expresses the holistic experiences of freelance learner-practitioners within the technical-craft domain of film production. The model provides a contribution to experiential learning, enabling freelance learner-practitioners to explicitly explore the range of opportunities available to them to engage in experiential learning. Practitioners can use the model to reflect on their learning experiences and inform decisions on how to develop and maintain their socio-technical skills, navigating a successful career in an industry of continued technological change. This research contributes to the theory of experiential learning that takes place within a freelance workplace

Reflecting blues - Perceptions of policing students undertaking a Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (PTLLS) course with regard to reflective practice and associated skills

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Education Doctorate and awarded by Brunel University.This research considered the perceptions of policing students who attended a Preparing to Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (PTLLS) course at a Central London College for Further Education, in relation to their study needs, motivation levels, relevant support and reflective practice. This phenomenological study considered 15 students from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) employing the use of semi-structured interviews to gather data. The findings were that the students‟ perception in relation to the support offered by the MPS was insufficient and this may be due to the pedagogical approach to learning favoured by many students. Several appeared to require support with learning and writing level at three or four. The college did very well in respect of the perception of the students in relation to the support they experienced. The scarcity of time and the intensity of the course was a prominent factor, where some had underestimated how much time they would need to allocate to study. Overwhelmingly the students required support when engaging in study at level three or four and there appeared to exist very little knowledge in how to write an assignment. Some of the students appeared to favour a more pedagogical approach to study and in some cases reacted against the andragogical style employed by the college. Support from the mentor was valued considerably by most of the students and this appears to be a contributory factor in easing the students back into study. In relation to students‟ perceptions of Reflective Practice (RP) there existed three distinct groups, namely those who considered that they used reflective practice, those who considered they did on certain occasions and one who did not. In general there existed a positive attitude towards the concept of RP although none of the students kept a record of their subsequent RP following the PTLLS course. The phenomenon of Situational Reflective Practice was observed which took the form of Reflection-re-Action and Reflection-re-Inaction. This is concerned with the way in which a social group or an organisation is behaving and the impact this has upon an individual. Further research in relation to the idea of Situational Reflective Practice is called for

A case study of a training programme for educators and trainers within a non-profit organisation: participant and organisational experiences.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.This qualitative single case study explored an international Non-Profit Organisation’s (NPO) planning, design and implementation of a Training Programme for Educators and Trainers (TPET) during the period 2009 – 2011. Across three cohorts of the TPET only nine of the thirty-two instructors completed it successfully which resulted in the programme being discontinued and stimulated the need for this research. The objective of this study was to explore the programme implementation process, review the implemented curriculum and explore the candidates’ experiences of learning and the barriers they faced in the process. A historical case study approach was used with an interpretivist paradigm. The case and the unit of analysis was the TPET and the focus was the participant’s experiences in the programme. It was framed by the theories of adult learning, curriculum design and instruction and barriers to learning. Using purposive sampling four candidates were selected, including two successful and two unsuccessful candidates. Data was also collected through semi-structured interviews and a document analysis. The findings from the semi-structured interviews was presented under the following themes: programme implementation and selection of candidates; participants experiences of the programme content; barriers to learning; implementation of learning in the classroom; changes in how participants feel about themselves. Key findings from the documents reviewed was presented under the headings of the compliance requirements of the Department of Labour, Non-Profit Organisation Instructor Certification Programme, Occupationally Directed Education and Training Development Programme at NQF level 5, The Training programme for Educators and Trainers with a profile of the interviewed participants. The study concluded that the initial plan of the NPO to build compliance capacity utilizing the TPET had merit. There however seemed to be a lack of understanding amongst the staff of the NPO regarding the compliance requirements as an accredited training service provider within the South African National Qualifications Framework. There also seemed to be a lack of organisational support for historical disadvantaged individuals participating in the TPET. The study allowed for several recommendations to be made to enable NPOs to improve such curriculum processes

Best Teaching Practices for Engaging Adult Students\u27 Foreign Language Learning

Government initiatives for strengthening the safety of the United States led to increased requirements for military linguists\u27 knowledge of foreign languages. This study explored the development of professional training for instructors at a military language school to address the gap in teaching services. The purpose of this single case study was to explore best teaching practices for engaging adult students\u27 foreign language learning following andragogical principles. Knowles\u27s theory of andragogy provided the conceptual framework. Data were collected using anonymous responses to an online survey from 26 instructors who answered 3 open-ended questions. Data were analyzed by coding answers to the research question and indicated that approximately one third of participants preferred language-centered practices for engaging their students\u27 foreign language learning. Another third of the respondents noted learner-centered approaches, and the remainder listed both language- and learner-centered approaches among best teaching practices. The proposed curriculum might facilitate discussion about the benefits of each approach to promote teaching and learning at the site. Participating in suggested training that is grounded in the theory of andragogy and local data may bring about positive change by advancing instructors\u27 expertise, improving educational services, and resulting in increased students\u27 proficiency

Nursing education to enhance culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community access to mental health services : a scoping review

Research has found that training health care professionals can enhance the access of the culturally diverse community to appropriate mental health services. Yet, little research has been conducted that explicitly focuses on improving nursing knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours that can enhance the access of the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community. This scoping review aims to locate, summarise, and recap what is known in the academic literature about educational interventions and programs to improve mental health nurses’ cultural competence. Examining how educational interventions and programs can improve mental health nurses’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours to facilitate Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community access to mental health services can also identify gaps in knowledge to report future research areas. Fifteen studies included in the review reported a positive effect of cultural competence interventions; however, it was difficult to establish a single effective intervention method due to the significant heterogenicity in cultural competence intervention strategies. Most studies in this scoping review included nurses as participants. However, only one study solely focussed on cultural competence intervention for mental health nurses. Two other studies included mental health nurses as participants, along with other mental health professionals. Henceforth, there is a prerequisite for more research focussing on enhancing mental health nurses’ cultural competency. Additional research is required to evaluate educational interventions’ impact on improving cultural competence attributes on specific practitioner behaviours and the effects on health care and health care outcomes. This review can form a basis for future research studies that will emphasise the impact of cultural competence interventions for mental health nurses. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC