5.1 Training trainers and teachers
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Training the Principal Trainers
Principal Trainers attend training-of-trainers (ToT) workshops. During these workshops they:
- learn about the inclusion-related topics they will be training teachers in;
- experience the learner-centred pedagogy / methodology that is essential for effective inclusive trainers and teachers;
- learn about, and contribute to localising and improving, the training modules.
The series of workshops is spread over at least two years. This ensures Principal Trainers are not overwhelmed with too much new information all at once. They have time to internalise and become comfortable with the training content and methodology.
This longer timescale also means that Principal Trainers have enough time to roll out training on each module to their teachers/schools, before returning as a group to learn about and co-develop the next module.
Listen to Duncan explain the longer-term process of training. You can read a transcript of what Duncan says.
Facilitating in-service training
After they have learned about and helped to develop a module, the Principal Trainers start using that module in workshops with teachers in schools. During this process:
- Principal Trainers work together in pairs or groups to prepare and facilitate training workshops.
- They become collaborative and reflective problem-solvers.
- They critically review and adapt the training messages and methods to better suit their local context, the teachers’ needs and their own training styles.
The in-service training puts a lot of emphasis on encouraging teachers to become critical thinkers, who are pro-active in asking questions and seeking answers. Such critical thinking not only improves how they teach in the classroom, it helps the teachers to become stronger at understanding and addressing inclusion problems more broadly.
Watch this extract from a debate involving a head teacher (who is also a Principal Trainer) and three teachers. They are critically reflecting on child trafficking – an issue which impacts on the learners in their school.
