Page 91 - Learning-while-working-Success-stories-on-workplace-learning-in-Europe

In-company trainers as key drivers of quality 85

Whereas trainers in the past were mainly playing the roles of instructor
and mentor, full-time trainers may be required to undertake broader and
more complex training-related functions, such as identifying training needs,
designing training plans, and establishing synergies with a diverse range of
partners. Cooperation with many other actors, including other enterprises,
public employment services, universities and research institutes, is gaining
significance in training, in particular for SMEs to train their staff,. Still, in many
countries networking is not yet perceived as a fundamental component of
trainers’ roles (Volmari et al., 2009). In large companies that run their own
training departments, in-company trainers tend to assume a range of planning
and organisational tasks related to the competence development of staff rather
than just delivering training. Also, the improvement of learning opportunities in
the workplace does not concern only trainers: a wide range of professionals –
managers, human resources specialists, supervisors, mentors, working coaches
and ‘key workers’ acknowledged for their experience and proficiency – who
support the learning of others at the workplace may require support to do so
effectively (European Commission, 2010f).

7.4. Successful practices in training the trainers

Whether companies value and invest in training as a means to consolidate
their business depends on a number of factors: the national tradition for
lifelong learning; how corporate responsibility in competence development
is understood; policy frameworks, incentives and support services for
employers; and economic and labour market developments. Where the
tight economic situation puts companies under pressure for rationalisation,
resources for continuing training of staff – including in-company trainers
themselves and in who undertake training functions for their colleagues –
might be one of the areas affected by budget cuts, rendering imaginative
and cost-effective approaches to trainers’ training most needed. In Norway,
the Akerhus University College has developed a training programme for in-
company trainers, which intends to transform the practices that enterprises
apply to training their staff.