This blog relates to the unit TAEDEL401 Plan, organise and deliver group-based learning from the course TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment.
Can we really teach just anybody to be a trainer? Can we teach just anybody to be a concert pianist? We can all agree that it takes a special talent and passion to be a concert pianist. The same applies to being a trainer.
What makes for a superlative trainer? Of course they must know their subject – that goes without saying. But knowing your subject and being able to impart the knowledge and skills to others are two different things.
A trainer needs instinct, talent and passion. They need confidence in their own ability while empathising with the learner’s lack of confidence. It’s important for us to remember where we came from and how hard it was for us in the beginning. We need to “leave ourselves outside the door” and focus on our learners. When you focus on your learner and what they are thinking, you don’t have time to be self-conscious.
We may start with a session plan, but we also need to think on our feet and know when to throw the session plan out the door and, instead, give the learners what they need when they need it.
We have a number of DEL units in the TAE and no doubt they will provide additional knowledge and skills but if the trainer is not born to train, all the teaching in the world will not make them into a trainer.
Written by Sandy Welton
Post your thoughts on what makes a great trainer.
Thank you very much ITTA team, recently completed an RPL process to upgrade my two TAE Diplomas to the 2016 version AND my TAE40110 to TAE40116.
As always, I cannot comment highly enough on the assistance and support I have received form ALL the team at ITTA.
I am so impressed I keep coming back to do more and more because the team is so professional AND I am now marketing ITTA to all my VET Trainers/Assessors to use ITTA to gain or update their Training and Assessment qualifications. I am so proud to call ITTA as my preferred supplier 🙂
David, thank you for the lovely feedback. I was just looking at the title of this Blog “Trainers are born, not made” – this is what really makes the difference. I know you are passionate about training and assessing David, and as one of our TAE candidates you certainly demonstrated through your commitment and quality of work that you are a born trainer! Keep up the great work.
An interesting view on what makes a trainer. It is clear to me that this comes back to the age-old discussion of nature versus nurture. Is someone good at something because their parents were good at it? Is it in the genes? Is it just chance that they were born that way? Or is it because their parents raised them in a way that mirrored the training concepts – questioning them, challenging them to find the answers? It may not have been the parents raising them this way it may have been a role-model or mentor (many of which we meet at school – teachers). Was all of this done in such an enjoyable environment that the individual then followed this path.
This is all very interesting, and I don’t have the answer, that’s the beauty of it.
For me – my journey had me born into a family of teachers. My mum is a primary teacher and ex-vice principal, my dad is a high school teacher. Later, my step-dad was a primary teacher and now my brother is a primary teacher and vice principal. I avoided this by taking the path of engineering through university before realising I wasn’t enjoying it. I worked in hospitality for a number of years assisting with the management and training of new staff. I then took a career move into finance working at a major bank. Within each role I found myself helping others to learn the job. So after many years of avoiding my calling of being a trainer of sorts I found myself in the role of a workplace coach and am absolutely loving it. It has given me great opportunity to do the things I love and it seems to come naturally to me (or were they nurtured into me?).
Andy – Yes, you are right – it comes back to the argument about nature or nurture, and in your case it looks like it was both (fortunately).
But … my question is … if you weren’t a born trainer then, at this late stage, could I turn you into one? In my experience it’s a resounding “No”.
I completely agree with the statement that educators/trainers are born and not made…I took the path of business management but invariably found myself in a training/hr role hahaha.
I never saw myself as an educator but I now have a Master of Teacher and have been a secondary teacher for the last five years, having retrained out of Tourism. I’m moving into Adult Ed now and find that I should have bitten the bullet and become a teacher when I first left school! Oh for the wisdom of hindsight.
I also am with David, ITTA have been fantastic. The professional delivery and friendly support that I have received doing my TAE40116 has been so consistent and encouraging. I have recommended ITTA to our HR department and I hope they are selected as the organisation that provides the TAE40116 upgrade for our teachers.
Thank you Sandy and Carolyn 🙂
Sikiki, it is a pleasure to work with someone who is passionate about what they do.
“We need to leave ourselves outside the door and focus on our learners”.
I could not agree with this more, as a teacher as much as our role is about imparting knowledge, the action and role we play actually has nothing to do with us as individuals and everything to do with out learner and the way they learn. It is our role as teachers to be able to quickly adapt and pick up on the different styles and ways of learning and each learner will have a different way to learn. This is where the intuition and passion comes in, to have the intuition of quickly figuring out the way a person learns and operates offers a big hand in the way we deliver our lessons as a teacher, I truly believe this intuition is something you are born with and cannot be taught.
The discussion about what makes a ‘superlative’ trainer could be seen in is most simplistic form as another exploration of the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate in the context of teaching/training. That is, are superlative trainers born with the necessary characteristics or talents or can they be developed by careful nurturing? Or perhaps there has to be equal contributions from both?
Many of this have reflected on this particularly after participating in classes eager to learn from an expert in education and training only to be disappointed in the lack of passion, patience and professional delivery.
Also is it possible that some of the most engaging teachers/trainers have left themselves completely outside the training arena when they engage and entertain as they impart the skills and knowledge the learners need?
So continuing with the initial thought, of nature versus nurture, is a good engaging trainer a born extrovert who loves interacting with others, is able to read body language, and derives satisfaction when others learn? Can we actually teach people in training such as this to be reflective about themselves, empathetic to others ( when they themselves may never have struggled to learn anything), read the faces of the learners and to totally leave themselves outside the training arena ?
Further, while it may be possible to create a list of all the characteristics of a good trainer and even to assign some to ‘nature”and others to ‘nurture’ it is doubtful that all would be found in any one person and exhibited in all situations.