The Management of the Training Provision
The Management of the Training Provision
Overview
The Scouts’ Adult Training Scheme is nationally based, but the organisation and delivery of the scheme is local and the responsibility of each County. The organisation and delivery of skills courses for Manager and Supporter training is delivered at Regional level in England and Wales.
The County Training Manager or Assistant Regional Commissioner (Adult Training) Scotland is responsible for the overall provision of training in their County or Scottish Region. The organisation and delivery of skills courses for Manager and Supporter training is delivered at Country level in Scotland and in Northern Ireland.
There are a variety of appointments involved in the management of training provision at a local level. These are described more fully below. The term Training Manager is often used to refer to all appointments involved in the management of Adult Training.
Each adult participating in The Scouts’ Adult Training Scheme has access to a Training Adviser. The role of the Training Adviser is to:
- Help the individual identify their existing skills and learning needs
- Help them construct a Personal Learning Plan
- Support them through that plan to completion
Depending on the size and structure of the County there may also be a range of Training Administrators based at local or County level.
Regional Training Managers work across England, providing support to Training Managers in a specific Region. They do not line manage Training Managers but can provide them with individual support on issues within their County as well as being involved in the induction of new Training Managers.
Training provision within a County is the responsibility of the County Training Manager. The structure of that provision will depend on several factors, including:
- Number of adults in the County
- Geographical size of the County
- Number of Districts
- Number of individuals to support the operation of the scheme, for example Training Advisers, and
- The management structure of the County
Line management is shown by the solid lines
Training support and advice is shown by the dotted lines
Click to see the image in full screen.
The County Training Manager may support the Training Advisers and Trainers directly, but it's more likely that they will have the support of one or more Local Training Managers. A Local Training Manager may provide support to one or more Districts and may support a number of Training Advisers or Trainers. A Training Adviser may support one or more learners, who may come from different Districts.
This is one example of how training provision within a County may be structured. This basic structure may be adapted to suit the individual nature of different Counties, and the challenges they may face at a certain point in time. Some ideas on the practical flexibility of different roles are included below. More information to help County Training Managers, including ideas on how to adapt the training structure for their own needs, is also available in the publication Training Manager’s Training Adviser Toolkit.
The County Training Manager is responsible to the County Commissioner. They are responsible for the overall provision of training in their County, and for ensuring that quality training is delivered. There are a number of elements to this.
Training needs
The County Training Manager ensures that training needs in the County are identified, and that an appropriate plan for meeting these needs is developed and implemented. Identification of needs will need to take into account the number of people holding appointments, the length of time people hold appointments for, geography and Group/District development plans. Information from Personal Learning Plans, for example preferred learning methods for modules, is vital in identifying these needs.
Training structures
The County Training Manager agrees the structure of training provision with the County Commissioner and District Commissioners. There are several ways that training provision can be structured within the County, and the most important thing is that the structure can work effectively to provide a relevant and quality provision.
An appropriate team
In order to implement the plan for meeting training needs the County Training Manager must make sure that appropriate people are recruited, managed and supported. The number of people required in different roles will depend on the needs that have been identified, and the structure chosen. Delivering a wide range of methods will require people skilled in different or diverse areas, whilst working to individual needs may put more emphasis on one to one or small group work than courses.
Learner’s needs
An essential part of providing a quality training provision is meeting the needs of individual learners. This includes ensuring that they are allocated a Training Adviser, complete a Personal Learning Plan, can access the training scheme as soon after appointment as possible and can access training by a variety of methods.
If adults are to be given a positive first impression of training it is essential that the allocation of Training Advisers is handled efficiently, and that Getting Started is readily accessible. More information and advice on Training Advisers is given below.
Take a look at our Role descriptions page for details on the role of County Training Manager, or you can order this from Scout Store.
The role of the Local Training Manager (LTM) is defined locally and can be applied in a number of ways. The main role of an LTM is to provide support and assistance to the County Training Manager. Specific elements of their role could include:
- Local analysis of training needs
- Liaison with Appointments Advisory Committees
- Management of small groups of Training Advisers
- The delivery and/or provision of some local training opportunities
The LTM role is very flexible. An LTM could cover a geographic area including several Groups, a District or a number of Districts. Alternatively, they could look after particular aspects of training, for example a set of modules, training for particular roles, Getting Started or Ongoing learning. They may be an active part of a training team, or they may manage a training team, a group of Training Advisers, or both. They may have no direct training input but instead concentrate on identifying learning needs and passing information on to training providers.
When thinking about structure and how to use LTMs it is important to consider what is best for that County. Where LTMs are allocated by geographic area their workload and extent of travelling needs to be considered. Where training provision works best is when the Training Managers and Commissioners work in partnership. If an LTM is allocated to support training in one or more Districts they should be encouraged to develop a good working relationship with the District Commissioner and District team.
Training provision within a Scottish Region is the responsibility of the Assistant Regional
Commissioner (Adult Training) Scotland. Each District has an Assistant District Commissioner (Adult Training) Scotland who is responsible for training within the District, in particular the provision of Getting Started training and the recruitment and allocation of Training Advisers.
This diagram shows the structure of training provision within a Scottish Region.
The Assistant Regional Commissioner (Adult Training) (ARC(AT)) is responsible to the Regional Commissioner. They are responsible for the overall provision of training in their Region, and for ensuring that quality training is delivered. They have some specific functions:
Lead and manage the training team
To ensure that adults get good quality and appropriate training it is important that the ARC(AT) puts together a training team which is inclusive and balances those with experience and those new to providing training. The team may include people taking on a variety of roles, including those leading on particular modules or groups of modules, safeguarding, distance learning, catering or record keeping.
Delivery of training
Responsibility for delivering training lies with the Region. Manager and Supporter skills courses are run by the Country. In order to ensure that the needs of learners within the Region are met the ARC(AT) ensures that a range of methods of learning are available, including distance learning methods, and that adults have access to appropriate methods which meet their needs. A plan for identifying and meeting learning needs will be developed and implemented.
Provide support to districts
Support is provided to Districts through the Assistant District Commissioner (Adult Training) Scotland (ADC(AT)). The ARC(AT) holds regular meetings with their team of ADC(AT)s, as well as one to one discussion, and should also attend meetings in Districts if invited. In this way they should identify and respond to the needs of the District, as well as ensuring that ADC(AT)s are playing a part in the Regional Training Team.
Communications
The ARC(AT) is part of the Regional team and should ensure that training is responding to the needs of the Region. They are also responsible for creating a forum for sharing good and effective practice both within their own Region, and across Regions. Finally, they represent their Region on the Scottish Training Team – a forum for sharing training ideas and practices across Scotland.
An example role description of an Assistant Regional Commissioner (Adult Training) Scotland can be found on Scouts Scotland.
The Assistant District Commissioner (Adult Training) Scotland is responsible to the District Commissioner. They are responsible for ensuring that all adults in their District receive the training which they need. The role includes:
- Ensuring delivery of Getting Started modules (01-04)
- Recruitment, support and allocation of Training Advisers
- Ensuring that Adult Training records are kept up to date
- Responsibility for Ongoing learning opportunities
- Active participation in the Regional Training Team
An example role description of an Assistant District Commissioner (Adult Training) can be found on Scouts Scotland.
Each learner participating in the Adult Training Scheme should be allocated a Training Adviser to support them through the scheme. The Training Adviser helps the learner to identify their learning needs, construct a Personal Learning Plan, and complete the learning and validation of that plan. Adults in Manager or Supporter roles will be allocated a Training Adviser for Managers and Supporters, who will be expected to have managerial experience either within Scouting or externally, in order to best support adults in these key roles.
If adults are to be given a positive first impression of training it is essential that the allocation of Training Advisers is handled efficiently. The appointment process and Getting Started must also be readily accessible.
At a first meeting the Training Adviser should explain the scheme and how it operates, ensure that the role description has been completed by the adult and their line manager and discuss the modules in relation to the role. If the adult needs to complete learning for the module then the Training Adviser needs to ensure that the learner has access to appropriate learning. If the adult already has the skills required, then the Training Adviser will need to arrange the validation of that module. More information on learning and validation is in section four of this resource.
Once all the modules are complete, the County Training Manager is informed. They recommend the award of the Wood Badge to Headquarters and inform the learner’s line manager. More information is in section three.
Training Advisers are appointed locally by the County Training Manager or Assistant District Commissioner (Adult Training) Scotland. The role of Training Adviser is a function that most line managers, Assistant District/ County Commissioners and Supporters could undertake. It is also perfectly acceptable for the role of Training Adviser to be an individual’s only role in Scouting.
A Training Adviser normally supports three or four learners, but this depends on their other commitments. There are a number of ways of being flexible with using Training Advisers, particularly if there is a shortage in one area. Some examples include:
- Drop-in validation evenings where a couple of Training Advisers are present to do a validation for anyone who turns up
- Getting Group Scout Leaders and District Explorer Scout Commissioners to do the initial Personal Learning Plan with new Section Leaders. Group Scout Leaders and District Explorer Scout Commissioners may have completed Assessing Learning (25), as Ongoing learning or part of their own Wood Badge
- Local Training Managers meeting new adults and doing the Personal Learning Plan before allocating an appropriate Training Adviser
- Assigning Training Advisers just for the Getting Started modules and then providing a pool of Training Advisers for further validations
- Providing a validation hotline for learners to ask for someone to validate them
The roles of Training Administrators are local appointments and can be used in a number of ways to support training within the County. For example:
- providing administration for courses
- organising distribution of distance learning materials
- communicating training opportunities
- maintaining financial records
- administering the collation of Personal Learning Plans
- entering information about module completions onto the training pages on the online membership admin area
- processing Wood Badge requests
- provide valuable organisational support at a local level
Role Descriptions
Read the descriptions