Train the trainer - Developing resources to support staff in CEIAG delivery

C&K Careers has developed and delivered accredited training on the use and adaptation of a range of career-related resources produced by Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY) to staff from a variety of organisations. The resources, aimed at informing and inspiring young people to consider all the options available to them, are accessible on the Go Higher West Yorkshire website.

In 2018, we were commissioned by GHWY National Collaborative Outreach Porject (NCOP), to develop a bespoke 'Train the Trainer' programme. Following the success of the the first groups, seven more cohorts of staff were due to indertake the course between September 2019 and October 2020. These cohorts went ahead and we have now adapted the training so we can deliver two more cohorts, virtually, in November and December 2020.

The course was designed to support key influencers to help young people and their parents and carers to understand the options they have, by providing them with up-to-date information about the routes into higher education in all its forms. There were two elements to the project:

1. Checking, quality assuring, organising and indexing 60+ resources produced by GHWY and developing new resources to fill any identified gaps.
2. Designing and delivering an accredited ‘Train the Trainer’ programme to roll out use of the resource pack.

 

Resources

GHWY provided us with a comprehensive selection of resources, including session plans, presentations, handouts, videos, animations, quizzes and other interactive activities. Topics covered ranged from apprenticeships and employability skills to student finance and UCAS, with group work activities looking at raising aspirations and considering the future. The target audience included young people from Years 8 to 13, parents and carers and professionals.

Our information and career guidance specialists checked and evaluated each resource and mapped each one against the Gatsby Benchmarks. The resources were categorised, standardised, indexed and organised to enable users to easily identify the resource that would best meet their needs. They were collated and professionally printed to create a ‘Train the Trainer’ pack. Staff attending the training each received a copy of the binder to take back and use in their organisations – the materials were also made available on the GHWY website  (the resources are free to download). The resources are still available and GHWY has continued to update and add to the resources, most recently adding some EAL resources and others, aimed at young fathers.

Feedback on the resources from course participants was extremely positive. Some participants liked the fact that they could just pick an activity or a presentation for an assembly ‘off the shelf’ and deliver it. Others liked the fact that they could adapt the resources to meet the needs of their own organisation.

 

‘Train the Trainer’ training

A ‘Train the Trainer’ model was developed whereby a member of staff from a school, college or other organisation could cascade the training to colleagues who would then use the resources with students.

Staff from our training and development and information teams worked together to design and deliver training on careers information generally and the GHWY resources specifically, and on group work. The group work element of the training focussed on how participants would deliver training to their colleagues and how this differed from teaching young people.

The training also offered two accredited units of the OCR L6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development ; ‘Using career and labour market information with clients’ and ‘Plan, deliver and evaluate career-related learning in groups’.

Up to the end of October 2018, 32 staff, including careers coordinators, careers advisers, teachers, leaders and youth workers from organisations across West Yorkshire had attended the training. Each training programme was delivered in three full-day sessions in central Leeds.

Feedback from participants of the training programme was extremely positive, they particularly valued: 

"Sharing ideas and best practice with professional from other areas/institutions"

"Looking at the resources. Looking at how training your peers may differ from students"

 

Adapting the resources

Participants were particularly inventive at adapting the resources to suit the needs of their own organisations and clients. Resources intended for group work were changed so they worked on a one-to-one basis and activities that may have involved sitting down and concentrating were made more active and interactive.

 

Cascading the training

We followed up participants to check if and how they had trained their colleagues in using the resources. We received a range of responses, but it became clear that the cascade model had worked - participants had trained Year 11 tutors, sixth form heads and form tutors, colleagues working in the community including police officers, key workers, youth workers, volunteers and, in one school, students, thus moving to the third tier of the cascade model. We estimate from the information we received from participants that over 150 people have received the cascaded training.

 

Gatsby Benchmarks

The ‘Train the Trainer’ programme supports schools to meet Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information and Benchmark 7: Encounters with further and higher education. In addition, following training, teachers on the programme could influence the careers education programme in their school meaning it also supports Benchmark 1: A stable careers programme.

Download these free resources 

For more information contact Joel Robinson at C&K Careers 

_{This article was first carried in the CDI publication Career Matters in January 2020 / Issue 8.1 31 and updated in November 2020}