Training Issues
Training is often hailed as the way to ensure the workforce is able to meet the demands placed on it by people and statute. There is a belief that if we have the right certificates gained through training we are equipped for the job. Might we suggest that this is far from the truth and the belief that training equates with competence is, at best, a dangerous one. The reasons this is dangerous are: -
• Firstly that training is often superficial and nothing more than an introduction to a topic. This is nowhere better illustrated than through the Induction training most companies use to initiate their staff into the caring profession. If staff are lucky they get 5 days of intensive input on everything they need to know and are deemed competent at the end of the process. The truth is that most of this remains little more than a blur and probably adds to the confusion rather than providing any clarity.
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• Trainers seem to have a problem with Validation of their courses. This is especially true now that quotas have been introduced and there is pressure on to meet the quota rather than to train the individual. How many people come to interview and present their Certificates which show that they have attended a course on…… without ever suggesting there has been an assessment and the person has reached a degree of efficiency or achieved a particular level of expertise or knowledge. There is a real need to look at the whole issue of training and ask the fundamental question of whether trainers should be target led.Care Home Residents Feel Benefits Of Sustained Gold Standard End Of Life Care
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Welsh Families Almost Twice As Likely To Notice Health Deterioration In Elderly Relatives.
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• What value does the Testimony hold? It cannot be denied that some managers spend time on what they write and attempt to produce an honest piece of work but one suspects that the temptation is to cut corners and to produce the piece of work that says the member is good at a particular task if only to ensure they pass and there is no longer a problem about the ratio of qualified staff. There is no real dishonesty there in that the manager will need to support that member of staff to ensure they finally develop the skill.
• What training is really needed and who actually decides what the curriculum should be? It has become apparent that a number of the older, basic skills people used to possess have now gone and been replaced – but with what? Can we all now undertake an assessment, produce a care or support plan, complete the risk assessment and take the client’s needs and wishes into account? Or are these things we used to do? We are probably no better informed than we used to be but know lees useful things than we once did,
• What is the value of classroom based learning – especially that provided by a trainer who has learnt all the theories but has no practical experience? Shouldn’t all training in residential and supported living settings be conducted on a mentoring basis where the practice and experience enable people and support them to develop their confidence as they undertake the job?
• How does service training keep up with service and legislative change? In our experience quite a number of managers do not even know about significant changes in enough detail to work out how it will impact on their practice and that of their staff group. How long does it take to train a whole staff group, being mindful that the service still needs to be provided and there are other priorities to be met? Who does have the training budget to ensure all the staff are up to date with what they need to know, and a staff group that does not see training as a way of avoiding client contact for the day.
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• What do we do about the carers? Aren’t they the people who interfere in the day to day care and want to know what is going on? Do we ever see the problems of detachment or the pain of acknowledging that they are physically no longer able to care and assume this means they are not bothered? The truth of the matter is that we usually tolerate them and answer their questions but never learn from them and understand their take on it all.• Increasing numbers of staff do not have English as a first language and we make assumptions about what they understand and accept their understanding is the same as we intended. We never check it out because it is not right to do so.
In the compass of this article it has only been possible to raise some of the issues there may be in the world of training. We ask only that you reflect and have your own clarity about what is happening where you work and, more importantly, to you.
Star Training - Tel: 0114 255 2301
2010-08-27 14:59:40
