Whither trainers’ training?
Trainers’ Training lost momentum and direction over a period of time

By SR Majumdar
The job of instructors in a vocational training system is to lead trainees into the world of work building unto them knowledge and competence, skills and qualities. Hence it is certainly wrong and improper to drop a new recruit literally into a classroom with text books and tools in hand to conduct instruction as it is a common sight in our system of skill training especially in ITI/ ITCs. Probably it does not appeal to some of us that instructor’s training is an important prerequisite to develop ability of teaching and improve skill quality. In this respect DGET is undoubtedly a pioneer having created suitable infrastructure on Craft Instructors Training System (CITS) assisted by international and bilateral aid agencies.

This government effort, however, lost slowly some momentum and to an extent degenerated with loss of direction over the years. But with the recent resurgent atmosphere created due to collaborative intent of industries with DGET, it is felt that some remedial measures might be afoot soon to put the system back on rails. No doubt training providers’ failure to utilise the DGET facilities in full as well as insensible and illogical method of selection of trainers in ATIs /CTI especially in the field of training methodology is also a cause for this downward trend. Faculty development especially in skill generation is a serious job as one understands that listening to songs or reading books may not always make a good singer or a writer, similarly the idea is absolutely ridiculous to suggest that one with just a degree, can also become a good teacher without requisite preparation.

Failure Analysis
Qualifications as also teaching experience are important factors in development of a conducive teaching-learning situation. It is not uncommon to see staff with ITI/ ATS certificates working in sundry non-instructional posts like Store Keeper/ Draughtsman etc. for long periods in institutes, gets catapulted to instructional posts on promotion without preparing them adequately and suitably thus exposing the system to a poor instructional culture contributing to the degeneration.

Didactic decision making on media, contents, methods, quality, standards, goals, evaluation etc is important and prime task of instructors and without proper training how would one be able to justify teaching position. A trainer’s job today is no more mere reproduction of knowledge but help generate competence and creativity. Unfortunately, the instructor training system in India is not geared towards that goal yet and needs appropriate redirection.

Apart from pedagogical issues, number of other issues also seems to have contributed to the systematic degeneration. It may not probably be irrelevant yet, the author experienced cases of deputed instructor trainees from ITI’s taking least interest in training because of poor sustenance allowances or due to other reasons. It was also noticed that selected ITI staff did not like to be deputed to a far away ATI/ CTI etc. For new recruitment of instructors apart from the trade qualification, a pass in the instructor training course of DGET or equivalent instead of rather being essentially followed, was seen very often breached thereby swelling the number of untrained teachers in the system. Even deputing for training to ATIs/ CTI has been seen to pose problem because of absence of leave reserve. Another typical problem relates to the shortage of competent trainers in ATIs/CTI itself as also many such officers in ATIs /CTI in charge of training methodology are themselves not trained in such subjects thereby making the teachers’ training inconsequential in terms of end quality.

The Didactics
The instructor training course basically consists of components namely advanced trade technology - mostly mono-skill in structure, trade didactics and training methodology which again in the current system is very traditionally dealt in content and application. The newer and modern elements such as action orientation and methods that can bring the trainees to the centre of learning process are mostly absent. The basics of teaching and learning suffer from insufficient and poor didactical structure and non systematic participation. The overall quality of training is dependent on instructor’s ability to be specific towards its desired and directed goal making instruction work, inspiring and motivating trainees, capability of evaluating instructional results etc. emphasising on the authority thereby to remodel, restructure and conduct instructor training program with a more aggressive policy and place it on a higher level to ensure that pedagogically untrained persons do not at all dabble in instructional activities. Instructor training program can then only fit absolutely dovetailed into the developmental goal of quality mechanism as we dream of late.

Trainer’s Role
For students in the young age group in order to identify, collate, assimilate and apply new information in social and productive life, the first port of call is none other than the instructor who thus occupies a very pivotal position in students’ eyes in respect of:

• Sources of information and correct connotation
  
• Extent of usefulness of the information for vocations
  
• Accessibility and effective and efficient application of such information, and,
• Industrial and productive treatment of the same within ethical and legal limits.

The process of skilling is a co-relational linkage between the vocations and employment with all its changing features and here instructors with their social position could act as an appropriate transforming tool for which the fundamental need in India is to have a systematic upgradation of trainers’ training at the same wavelength, as the corporate world seems to emit in their support to the governmental efforts for basic skill training.

Assessment Method
The six DGET institutes are the main pillars of training of instructors under CITS except some similar functions being also performed by NVTI for women or few other DGET institutes mostly on a lesser scale or at different levels. The root of success or failure of the instructor training system is deeply related to the manner this subject was being treated and progressed in these institutes. It is opined by observers that the poor training quality of instructors in general and a nondescript quality standard that is followed might have contributed largely to this. Though some terminal standards are there in the form of final examination offering grades at the end of instructor training, the grading system as well as the recruitment policy of instructors in ITI or even in central institutes never helped the training system to aspire for excellence as pre-recruitment training was not followed as a desirable qualification in most cases. Again from curriculum development to conducting training programs is regulated by the same body which also is the regulatory authority of evaluation/examination and certification system thereby leaving enough space for lack of transparency in measures of evaluation.

Moreover in the absence of well designed industry oriented skill standards, assessment of training variables was never an easy task. Hence a thorough review with a critical look at this juncture from the above angles may be the only option for real improvement of the system in order not to allow novice, skilled and master instructors at the end of the training being bracketed together.

Though it is not the objective here to denounce the system as a whole, during the last three decades the focus of instructor training in these institutes somewhat got down-played, possibly inadvertently, specially in the ATIs (one must remember that in pre-eighties these were also functioning as CTIs) due to lot of other important training programs introduced there aimed at providing training platforms on emerging and high-tech areas to train/ retrain serving adult skilled workers from industries which however was also a national priority though it can not be denied that some new inputs continued to have been placed periodically to these institutes from various ongoing projects from time to time to enhance training capacity of instructors but without much tangible effect. It can be said that the net result of upgrading CTIs to ATIs at the end defocused the training of instructors at least to some extent if not considerably.

Dynamism Needed
As a whole the present system of Instructor training functions need to be more dynamic for its quick response to the social and economic changes for which the system requires to be reengineered on a wider scale based on a strong scientific foundation of skill and skill-related issues keeping in mind the ultimate goal of development of human competence levels. The skilling process can not move on haphazardly without taking into consideration factors like skill guidelines, skill inventory, skill obsolescence, expansion of knowledge, resultant changes in employment profile, use of new instructional technology and delivery mechanism etc. Close and intimate industry interaction with the instructor training institutes may assist the training quality greatly in providing latest information of technology growth including short-duration training for instructor trainees on new equipment as well as on specific skill if such possibility can not be created in ATI/CTI thus enhancing their domain of knowledge and equipping the teacher trainees with the contemporary trends. Otherwise, to whatever an extent training reforms are carried out, the quality of end products may not improve as desired and gap of skill mismatch may never be bridged. As the features of vocations especially in the engineering /technology fields are in continuous change, the skill inventories, skill standards and the resultant methods of training need proportionately changed on a dynamic scale, as well as eliminated if found not suitable at all under the changed circumstances.

It has come to notice number of times where training was being offered on obsolete skill area for which there are no or only few takers for the trained persons as timely review action has not been taken appropriately. For example, in repairing group of trades replacement rather than physically repairing each individual part, is the order of the day in many places due to many reasons thereby the skill content both in practical and theoretical aspect has changed significantly and at a faster rate bringing in more and more analytical and neural approach in understanding and tackling repair problems. On the other hand even when some emerging area of technology is in high demand, no manpower could be developed in an organised manner in time due to non availability of adequate training platforms with trained instructors as it has been noticed when computer assisted production systems started arriving in the production scenario in mid eighties in India.

Emerging Concept
In many new skill area where the workers’ mental and analytical ability is in more use due to changes in technology, questions comes to mind to what an extent such logical analytics to sort out complex technological disorder could be taught, practiced and put into use by trainees at basic level if the trainers themselves are not trained and not very much conversant with and the qualifications they obtained do not correlate with the new jobs they need to perform because of lack of training on new technology. If one ponders over it bit deeper, one may come across a plethora of examples in each and every field of vocations in the modern era where new control technology is in use with micro-electronics and computer assisted feedback system. Though the concept of multiskilling is an oft repeated slogan for quite sometime, the quantum and nature of multi-skilling training of instructors or even trainers of trainer is yet to take root if I am not wrong.

In certain skill area like watch maker etc. though the skill content or sometimes the trade itself was facing changes to the brink of extinction, no action or timely action to modify the trade or review the scope of employability or retrain the instructors in new fields was being adopted for long time as a result giving rise to frustration. At the same time where manpower is needed but unavailable readily for lack of training or other reasons like treatment of metals, repair and maintenance of medical equipment and so many other area, our system could not match the national requirement because of lack of trained teachers. It is hoped all such points will now be taken care of in the new PPP initiatives.

The system’s quality goal, can not be seen in isolation leaving aside a well defined skill standards, developing a manual of skill inventories, deciding the appropriate skilling process, developing a gradation system and grading mechanism, deciding tools and techniques etc, if a correct and quantifiable assessment of variables in vocational training in general including the training of trainers, is our ultimate objective and desire to be fulfilled. Let a joint venture in the PPP model be set up to take care of it.

— SR Majumdar is former Director of Central Staff Training and Research Institute, Kolkata

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