Teacher as a Trainer

One of the enjoyable takeaways from the early ASAP (Additional Skills Acquisition Programme) experience introduced in Kerala, was the pleasure of applying skills acquired as a trainer in teaching. Many who were involved in the project as ASAP trainers were happy that they could be part time trainers too inside traditional classrooms. I am sure the experience of these ASAP trainers has rubbed off positively on their teaching, though some may have settled back to the default lecture mode: chalk and talk, or even talk and talk! 

The transformation which the Higher Education (all of Education, for that matter) scene is witnessing these days demands a revisit of the ASAP days. The changes that digital technology has brought in on a generation which is screen-centered and attention-deficit have placed demands on the teacher to let go of the talk-fixation and talk more shop through less talk. This talk-less, teach-more strategy necessitates a transformation of the teacher into more of a trainer. 

This call for teachers to turn trainers, to use techniques and methods of training in teaching should be underpinned by a comparison between the manner in which a teacher and a trainer goes about delivering content in the learning spaces. Training is short term while teaching is long term. A trainer gets his/ her target audience to fulfill a very specific objective or a couple of those. Hence the specificity in time and space is a big distinguisher. It is this element which leads to a host of other differences between the two. The trainer has to impact the audience in a short span of time. She/he must be armed with a repertoire of activities, tasks and games to help bring in quick transitions. The use of movement, the ability to give room for mobility to the trainees, the multi-modes of engagement built into the training regime- all of these matter in training. A trainer never takes attention of the audience or the engagement with them for granted. She/ he fights for it! The trainer-finger placed on the trainee-pulse allows the trainer to keep abreast and know what is needed. This capacity to receive these alerts and the ability to act according to the existing/ emerging feel of the group of trainees, will surely test the talent for the trainer to think and plan/replan on feet. The use of video/audio and such materials (there is no limit to what can be used by a good trainer!) will lend second and third lives to their sessions. The energy is never allowed to sag. The training sessions are more dynamic, action-oriented, lively and importantly less boring! 

The element or boredom rings a bell when we connect the present-day learner and the traditional classroom. Fed on Swishing screens and customized song lists, they are wont to favorites dished out to them relentlessly. With reduced attention spans, the restive student crowd is hard to impress and connect in the classrooms today. This is where the training-skills can seriously supplement the teacher-skills in the college classrooms. If the teachers naively assume that all those who attend the sessions are there for a valid reason and they will take away what they need, taking learning for granted, they are bound to fail. 

It is certain that classroom teaching is different from training. One is a long-sustained movement towards a certification of the longer and more (apparently) serious kind. The learning space called a college classroom and the training space could be different. There may be less room for maneuver in a traditional classroom often. One can go on listing the differences. But unless the faculty members of the Higher Education tweak their ways and means, spaces and processes, it may not be possible to survive in a playing field which is being rendered non-level, thanks to the digital manipulations the young learners minds and behaviors are willingly exposed / subjected to.