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10 Training, Coaching and Mentoring
THE NEW TRAINING CONTEXT People learn and develop through training, coaching and mentoring. Sloman (2000), Director of Management, Education and Training at Ernst & Young, asserts that it is time for ‘Grasping the new opportunities for training’. This reappraisal of training requires the identification of training needs, the design and delivery of training activity and post-training evaluation and reinforcement. Training in schools, only part of continuing professional development (CPD), should be fully integrated into the management processes. The preparation and promotion of the training strategy and its expression as a plan is a key task. The training culture, linked to performance management must be identified, articulated, managed and monitored by the CPD manager, who needs the ability to influence, strategic awareness, the consultancy skill of effective diagnosis, and technical expertise about online learning. ● Learning need – should drive the whole process but new business models drive a new agenda and create new training needs. Identifying training needs becomes more critical. ● Platform – the new technology (Internet/intranet/web) offers an exciting platform, particularly when used in conjunction with course-based training and experiential learning. ● Learning support – must be supplied appropriately. It will be affected by both learning needs and technology. New technology will drive needs. Appropriate provision of learning support is the responsibility of the learning and development professional. Is training planned rigorously in your school? Simmons (2000) defined benchmarking, as the practice of being humble enough to admit others are better, and being wise enough to learn from them. This will include benchmarking any high-performance tool, technique or process which helps you achieve business objectives by solving problems, creating opportunities or improving business results. This can be achieved by what appears to be a simple process of: 1) Learning about your own practices. 97
