1. How to set up a technical training program

This blog article covers the necessary steering documents and preparatory work and you should do before setting up a technical trianing program. It is also a chapter from the Free eBook: Managing Technical Training Equipment.

Your training center should teach skills that are in demand from local employers. Below five steps of preparatory work can help you ensure that your training programs are well anchored and based upon industrial needs. Each step should lead to a steering document to guide your internal work.

1. Training Needs Analysis

Your training center (whether its public, private or enterprise) has identified all possible foreseeable workforce needs for your country, region, or enterprise. Essentially this means that you have a clear list of which jobs (trades & occupations) is or will be in demand and you have prioritized them accordingly.

2. Job Analysis

For each job identified in step 1 – you have established a panel of experts consisting of: subject matter experts, top trainers, coaches, assessors etc. with a deep level of understanding of the job function. This panel has closely reviewed, listed, and segmented into units the various work tasks associated with each job. Essentially this means you already know clearly which tasks needs to be performed at each job.

3. Identification of Competencies

The list of tasks identified in step 2 has thereafter been mapped by the panel to the awareness, knowledge, skill, attitude, and competencies which the learners need to acquire, to do the job well. Essentially this means that you have traced back and identified what the learners need to learn.

4. Competency Development Framework

The competency development framework you have developed is neatly tying together the different jobs, units, individual tasks and the awareness, knowledge, skill, attitude, and competencies that learners need to acquire to perform each task. This is formulated into learning areas and the key is that each piece of learning is measurable and verifiable to a standard level required.

5. Development of Curriculum & Training Programs

The competency development framework from step 4 above, should be translated into curriculum and teaching material. This could be for both on and off the work training (for dual systems), alternatively just for class-based training systems. Emphasis should be on both theoretical and practical exercises and ideally plotted to existing courses and resources.

As you can see there is a logic in the five steps on the previous page, to clearly help to tie skills needs to your curriculum and teaching materials.

The steering documents which are outcomes of preparatory works such as the 5 anchoring steps above, are incredibly good tools when designing your learning experience.

Symptoms of possible miss-match between your training program and the industry needs can show themselves in different shapes. For example, if students finalizing your training program experience problems finding jobs, or if employers in local industry is complaining about the skill level of students.

Suggested actions:

• If you are an educator unsure of the existence of such steering documents, ask your colleagues and superiors.
• If you are an administrator and steering documents exist, then spread them widely in the organization since they support educators in creating better learning experiences.
• If there are indications of a potential miss-match between your program and the skills needs of the industry, then initiate a taskforce to work through the five suggested steps above.
• If you need support, we recommend that you get in contact with a Workforce development or TVET consultant who can help you out.

In the next chapter we will look at how to assess existing training equipment.

You can also download the Free eBook: Managing Technical Training Equipment.