All staff, irrespective of their position in the organization, should receive the training they need to do their job properly, and also basic training that will enable them to do simple educational work or to explain the objectives of the education programme.
But those who have to conduct education programmes require additional training, and this section of the topic area is about the preparation of educators rather than about internal education and administrative staff training.
Standard Training Principles
The level of training required depends on the educational strategies chosen. If there is little face-to-face work, and the majority of the programme is based on mass communication and direct mail or similar techniques, there may be a limited need for educator training.
Instead, training may be needed for a cadre of home visitors, information officers, or telephone operators.
Whatever the case, the same principles apply:
- cascade training, subject to the limitations discussed below
- active learning methods
- orientation programmes
Cascade Training
A mass training programme that must be achieved in a limited time frame should consist of a cascade system. Care has to be taken that cascade training does not turn into trickle down training. With this care and the enthusiasm of those receiving the training, a great deal can be achieved.
Cascade training is based on the principle of training an advance group of educators, who then transfer their knowledge and skills to a second set of people, and they to a third, and so on. This has also been referred to as training of trainers (TOT). If each training event operates on a ratio of one staff member to fifteen participants, by the third round of training it is theoretically possible to have reached about eleven hundred people. The fourth round reaches almost seventeen thousand people.
In order to be effective, materials for the full programme must be available, and these materials must provide participants with content competence, as well as the ability to transfer this to others. Given the likelihood that the majority of those participating will have limited education skills, fixed course designs that can be easily replicated are essential.
For this reason, it is necessary that every event, including the first, be conducted in circumstances similar to those likely to be faced at the bottom of the cascade. Many programmes make the mistake of assuming the first round is more important and can therefore be conducted in different (normally more salubrious and costly surroundings).
Limitations of Cascade Training
Quality - The cascade system does have certain limitations that make it unlikely that a strictly geometric progression will be possible. The first of these is that those who are recruited may not be able to replicate the quality of the first event. Like a photocopy of a photocopy, cascade programmes tend to degrade even if there is a monitoring programme in place.
There are a number of reasons for this.
- Those preparing the first event typically are highly skilled educators who have had the privilege of preparing the materials over time, and because it is the first event, take some care in getting it right, even to the extent of more elaborate preparation than will be possible out in the field.
- The first round of recruitment attracts the stars; later rounds must make do with more ordinary people, if as committed.
- Those conducting the second and third rounds, and further down, have to prepare to conduct programmes in conditions less conducive to reflection and possibly further away from available resources.
Participant Choice - The second limitation is related to the choice of participants. Unless considerable work is done before all the events, it is likely that the participants will consist of a mix of the knowledgeable and competent, the willing but less able, the confused sent by the person who actually got the information, and those who are just looking for a bit of part-time or even full-time work.
So, more and more time is taken on clarifying the goals of the programme, administrative matters, and dealing with a diverse group in terms of educational competence.
The drop-out ratio increases, unless the programme has strict contractual obligations and a separate group that is organising events so that the trainers just have to turn up.
Final Level Resources - The final limitation can emerge quite rapidly. While the intention of a cascade programme is to eventually create a cadre of educators who can conduct a face-to-face programme with the final target audience, that target audience often starts arriving at the programme quite high up the cascade. Education organizers can spot this in a voter education cascade when it becomes clear that those present are learning a great deal but have no intention or inclination to go out and educate others. This situation may also occur when there is not enough time to implement the casecade training prior to elections, for example. When time runs short, the pyramid may collapse as pressure grows to reach the final target audience rather than prepare trainers who will not have time to execute training activities prior to election day.
But those programmes that get the final level in place need to plan for the possibility that the resources available may not stretch far enough. Once seventeen thousand people are in place, the organizers have to be able to resource seventeen thousand local events. At a nominal cost of $2 a person for a fifteen-person workshop, the budget must suddenly bear an amount of half a million dollars. And it must have worked out how to ensure that those seventeen thousand events are organized.
Cascades Remain Important
Despite these limitations, it is possible to use cascade methods to reach a relatively large number of people and prepare them for the task, whether to conduct voter education events, provide public information, or visit voters and distribute materials.
Active Learning Methods
Training-of-trainer methodologies that work most effectively are those that combine considerable attention to the goals and objectives, provide simulation and rehearsal opportunities, and ensure that those who will be training others understand the principles behind the course and how to conduct it for others. See Group Learning, Simulations, Distance Learning Techniques for appropriate methodologies.
One important aspect of simulation and rehersal activities is preparing trainers to deal with difficult participants. While most participants, whether prospective trainers or the final target audience, will have the best of intentions, there are always a few people who may be disruptive. Simulations will prepare trainers in how to deal with challenges to their authority and difficult group dynamics.
Trainers should also remember that they cannnot rely on people taking large amounts of material home to read. Adults have limited time (see Adult Learning) and expect the workshop to be the primary learning experience.
Orientation Programmes
Apart from more detailed training, there are times when materials have been produced that have to be used by others. It is likely to be necessary to orient people to the use of these materials.
This can be done with large groups of people. The numbers are limited only by the size of the venue and the quality of the public address system.
Orientation sometimes masquerades as training. However, truly training in large groups requires a course design that creates the equivalent of a large number of small groups, with perhaps theoretical concepts offered in the large group; and practice, reflection, rehearsal, and feedback done in extended breakaway sessions.
An orientation programme is a walk through materials with opportunities for discussion and basic familiarization. The assumption is that people are competent to take the material, prepare it and perform adequately with limited training interventions. These training interventions can be provided back home, for example, at a pre-event run through.
