Abstract:
Since the changes in technology are intense and unprecedented in
contemporary human history with its impact on almost all aspects of human
life, organizations have invariably adopted training as a tool to fill the
competency-gap of their employees to keep pace with such changes and also
to enhance the employability of their employees in order to avoid extinction.
They spend huge amount of resources to achieve this goal and for their
survival. This additional emphasis on training has transformed training as a
profession and the trainers as professionals. Hence, trainers need to possess a
set of relevant competencies as well as acceptable behavioural patterns to be
effective in their training activities. Education sector is no exception in this
trend. This paper is an outcome of a study in which attempts were made to
identify the essential competencies and behaviour of a trainer in an education
management training environment in Sri Lanka as perceived by the
participants of a particular training of a trainers (TOT) programme. Survey
research design was applied among the sample which was a set of forty out
of ninety six trainees in that programme with the questionnaire as main data
collection tool. Further, sixteen experienced trainers were also interviewed
and several sessions of the said TOT programme were observed. The study
revealed that thorough knowledge of the subject or topic, strong
communication skills and expertise in training methods particularly in
andragogical methods are the three major competencies an effective trainer
should possess. In terms of trainer’s expected behaviour in a training
environment, five most important behavioural traits have surfaced in the
study. They were: allow participants' to express their views; be friendly and
humorous and keep the class lively; be thoroughly prepared and systematic
in your delivery; integrate theory with practice and always maintain clarity
in expression. The study also has brought out the important factors that
make a training programme ineffective.
