In my current role it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage the boundaries between my expected role as a trainer and the expectation of the management team that I work for. I currently struggle with the size and location of the training room. Although attempts have been made to discuss this with the management team they have decided that I will just need to manage. However for me this conflicts with some of the basic health and safety requirements. HSE (2011). To ensure that I have met my professional requirements I have sent an email to those who can make the changes to ensure that I have evidence that I have reported and expressed my concerns. I have also carried out a risk assessment to minimise and reduce the risks that cannot be avoided. I ensure that all of the delegates are aware of these in the housekeeping at the start of the training.
We also have the issue of unmotivated learners, with the team managers under increasing pressure in other areas of their job role, it is falling to me to try to encourage and motivate the learners to attend. I have done this by offering incentives such as cakes and chocolate to those that attend, and issuing certificates that can be put on their staff files and into their own portfolio of learning. I understand that it takes time to change people view point on learning and developing but we are starting to see some positive changes. I am now also liaising with the senior management team to discuss the way in which we are delivering training. We currently have many of our courses being completed via e learning. The feedback from the team has been that many are struggling to use this system as they are not computer literate and that they do not feel that they learn well from this method. I have set up a group where I am available to support learners in completing their e learning and the management team are now looking at the company delivering more face to face/class room based training. By doing this I hope this will help to meet the needs of our learners.
In order to meet the needs of the learners as a company we have implemented courses that help team members who struggle with literacy and numeracy. Where learners are struggling to complete the required written work for new starters, I have set up a workshop where they can come along on a one to one basis on as a group. There are times when learners may divulge information that is outside of either my area of expertise or that would be inappropriate for me to address. In this case I will refer them to our employee assist helpline or to our company occupational therapist. It is imperative that I do not try to deal with these issues personally. As discussed by Pierce E (2010) ‘If you do not set personal boundaries, this work can eat you alive.’ From experience I know what he means.
During one my other roles as a trainer I go into numerous care environments to deliver a number of care related courses. Just recently I had a learner on the course who didn’t speak any English, I asked to speak to the manager and explained that I would be unable to accept this learner on the course at this stage as there was no way he could learn, nor would I be able to assess him with regards to his learning. I have suggested to the manager that they offer him the opportunity to attend classes at the local college in order to learn English.
It is important to be aware that as teacher/facilitator of learning there will be times when unexpected events may occur. For example if a student suddenly fell ill whilst on a