Lifelong Learning as a Professional Trainer

Teresa Dolan, Founder of TED Training, Adult Educator

For over 20 years it has been my pleasure to work alongside Teresa as an Associate of her, and her of me.

In this case study you will read about the value base and motivation of an exceptional trainer, who began her career doing complex group work with people who are marginalised by our society. This is a similar foundation to me, echoing the work i did amongst people who lived and worked on the streets of London. In reading this case study you will gain a rich texture of what it takes to be an excellent trainer.

Teresa and me both now Train Trainers, Train Group Workers and facilitate learning for multiple professionals. What I particularly value about this case study is the way Teresa sets out the foundational work that co-creates a more equal society. As Paulo Friere sets out in ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ in 1968 there is a radical difference between those that empower educationally and those that unconsciously oppress. The common saying that ‘to teach people how to fish is more important than giving them fish’, is a community development truth which is still absent in COP 26 negotiations where Boris and others patronised and acted as colonials in their proposed offers to the global south.

I have worked in the field of adult education for over 30 years. Initially as a volunteer literacy tutor in a community centre, I moved into paid employment within the centre and continued to work with literacy groups and began to work with women returners.

Many of the women who came along to the groups had a very poor experience of education, they had been bullied both physically and verbally by both classmates and teachers. They were subjected to daily humiliation, caned for being stupid and they left the education system as soon as they could. They took total responsibility for their failure. When I met them they had learnt a range of skills to get by and hide the fact that they couldn’t read, write of use numbers. These brave women took the step to come into our centre for many reasons; they wanted to read to their children or get a job, or they were exhausted of hiding it and by the shame they felt.

For these women to come back into education was huge for them and our approach was always very gentle, just taking time to get to know each other and only contributing where and when they felt able to contribute. At the end of the first day I would ask how they had felt when they arrived that morning and they were using words like; scared, terrified, ashamed, anxious, panicky, what am I doing here? I think I should just go home, I’m too stupid for a place like this. I would then ask them how they felt at the end of the day and they would say they’d been surprised that it was nothing like school, which I was delighted to hear, and that they hadn’t realised there were other people like them who had similar experiences to their own, they said that they felt able to come back to see how they get on. Not all of them would come back. Some would take on jobs, often low paid, with little security. They would move from job to job frightened that their poor literacy would be discovered.

It was really important to undertake learning that was relevant to the women and their lives so we would spend a lot of time looking at what they needed to learn and what they wanted to learn and what was holding them back.

At the end of the course we would have a big celebration to mark their achievements, often women would come up to me and say that I had changed their lives, I would thank them for the compliment but say that what I had done was open some doors for them and help them along the way, what they had done was take a huge step to overcome their fears, overcome their experiences and to have a more positive approach to learning. They had taken that first step they made the decision to change their lives, they had worked really hard and I was just lucky to be there with them along their journey.

I worked with women returners for about 10 years, I learnt so much from the women and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much. It was hard to move on but I moved into working more directly with other adult educators and became involved in developing programmes of learning and delivering those.

I have, for quite a long time now, written and delivered training for trainers. Sometimes educators can just fall into the role of delivering training and they do a great job but often it’s without any recognition of their skills, their talents and the work that they do. I have worked with individuals and with organisations to provide qualifications that develop their skills in becoming a fully accredited trainer. This is one of the main professional development routes that is accredited by Napier University at level 8 in the Scottish Qualifications Credit Framework. Currently run by me, co-developed with Duncan’s help, available for around £500 here. 

 I have trained people to be trainers, I’ve worked with people who deliver mentoring, with counsellors, people in advocacy roles, to name but a few. Working with other adult educators enables me to keep my own practice up-to-date, I never come away from the session without having learnt something new or something that makes me think I could approach things in a different way, or that’s a great new icebreaker.  This really keeps my practice up-to-date to date and gives me fresh, new ideas. That’s why I like working with Duncan.

Like many others I have had to adapt my work and so over lockdown I worked with others to adapt my training so that it can work online. This was much more challenging than I had envisaged but I can now still offer the training that I have developed over the years offering accredited training for training professionals. Courses are available online and I’ve been able to maintain contact with other trainers by providing induction by zoom and offering tutorials or coaching.