MODULE 4 : THE TRAINER’S ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY

TRAINER’S ROLE
The role of the workplace trainer has changed in recent times with the gradual swing
from trainer-centered instruction to a learner-centered approach where the individual are
more responsible for their own learning . A workplace trainer may take on many different
roles depending on the needs of individuals.

1. COACH

A coach assists others, usually less experienced, in acquiring new or additional skills
and
Improving their performance. Coaching is used with learners who need directions and
supervision because they may be inexperienced in some areas.

Coaching also provides support and praise to build self-esteem and involvement in
decision making. Effective coaching also enables the experienced learner to increase he/her
commitment to doing a good job.

2. MENTOR

A mentor is someone of relatively high status within a organization who, by mutual

Consent with another individual, performs the role of career guide and role model by
championing, steering, supporting, advising, tutoring and acting as a confident. Mentoring
provides a broader, less specific perspective that gives he learner the opportunity to:

 Form a development relationship

 Learn the organization or company operations
 Learn about the culture of the organization
 Be guded in their professional and career development

Mentoring may be an informal process where individuals decide themselves who

they Are paired with. On the other hand, it may be quite a family structured program that
people know about and can easily access.

3. FACILITATOR

The role of the trainer as the facilitator is vital as the learning situation becomes a highly
Participatory one between learner and trainer.

The facilitator becomes the learner’s partner in the learning process and provides a
learning environment in the most effective and helpful ways.

The facilitator will assist learners to become self-directing in their learning and
provide
Support and encourangement as it is needed.
TRAINER’S RESPONSIBILITIES

The trainer has the moral and legal responsibilities and ensures not only the
professional progress but also the well-being of the youth. You have to prevent.

 Discrimination because if gender, race or nationality or any other kind

 Bullying and/or sexual harassment
 Abuse of alcohol, medicine or any other substance
 Physical danger through accidents, air pollution, noise or dangerous chemicals
 Overstepping the apprentice’s physical capacity

You also have to secure that time regulations or other legal regulations are not overstepped
neither by you nor by the apprentice.

THE PROCESS OF LEARNING

The successful trainer possesses insight into the process of learning. The learning
process comforms to the following pattern: external sensations stimulate the sense organs
ears, eyes, body (touch), noise and tongue – and the nervous system conveys impressions to
the relevant sections of the brain. The brain then transmits impulses to the muscles and
organs of movement and speech, and the end result is a reaction.

The Learning
Process
CREATING AN IMPRESSION

PERCEIVING
 Input (often called
cues)
 Learner percetives
or develops and
idea of what has to
be done

FEEDBACK
DECIDING
 External or Internal Processing in
the brain
 Coach important here How do we put the info
 Asked to practice further, Into a response
Cycle starts again
 ACTING
 Output
 Move or movement
Receiving an impression is the first step in learning. Therefore, the trainer
must ensure that the trainee receives strong ompressions. The strength of the impression
will depend on:
 The number of sense involved
 The vividness of the impression
 Whether the impression registers

OBSERVING THE LEARNERS

The only way the trainor can know if people have learned the material is by
observing their behavior:
 Their actions
 Their written impression
 Their speech

FACTORS THAT HINDER LEARNING

 The learning plateau: at inervals the rate of learning flattens out as the brain rests
 Saturation: if the message is overloaded the receiver rejects the excess and learning
stops
 Fatigue: a tired receiver is not as receptive as an alert one
 Inability to concentrate: the longer the message, the more concentrate decreases
form beginning to end

OBTAINING AND HOLDING THE LEARNERS’ ATTENTION

Before people can learn any material they must focus their voluntary attention on it
The desire to learn comes from within; it is spontaneous.

The good trainer tries to gain and maintain voluntary attention in every session he or
she presents.

o Relate what you aim to teach to those subjects in which you know the trainees are
Interested.

o Introduce the session in such a way that the trainees will not only see and become
Interested in this relationship, but will want to learn more about it

o Begin with a good story to which the trainees can relate. An effective trainer makes
It his in her business to know the backgroundof the trainees.

o Having done these things, maintain the trainees’ attention by doing all that is
 Possible to facilitate their understanding and absorption of the material.

o Ensure that the trainee’s learning is an active process in which the trainees are
Equal partners in terms of participation.

FACILITATING UNDERSTANDING

To facilitate understanding, the trainer proceeds from:

 Known to unknown
 Simply to complex
 Whole to part and back to whole
 Concrete to abstract
 Particular to general
 Observation to reasoning
 Point to point in logical order

To facilitate absorption, remember that trainees learn only by impressions received

through their senses.

STEPS IN SKILL TRAINING

Having learned a skill, trainees must reinforce its acquisition by using it. Learning and
doing is the basic principle underlying the acquisition of any skill.

When teaching skills, the trainer most often achieves the best results by keeping the
talk shorts and by working through a set sequence of discrete steps, as follows:

 Show the trainees the actual skill they are to acquire

 Demonstrate and explain, step by step, the operations involved (this requires an
analysis of the procedure by the trainer).

 Have trainees imitate the necessary actions.

 Have trainees practice performing the operations.

 Devote at least 50 percent of the session to trainee practice time.