manual: women workers' rights and gender equality - International ...

Briefing Note 1 Training Methods
This briefing note explains how to use the following training methods: plenary discussions, group
work, role plays, case studies or stories and evaluation.
Plenary Discussions
Discussions in plenary are important to:
• Ensure everybody understands the main points and key messages.
• Clarify questions.
• Obtain consensus on main directions or obtain detailed information needed for setting main
directions.
• Clearly define for yourself and the participants the aim and subject for discussion at the start
and at the end of each session.
• Enable as many participants as possible to join in the discussion. Try to be aware of
participants who have not spoken. Think of ways to encourage them to join in without putting
them under pressure, for example by asking women to respond, if they have been quiet. You
can also ask for views from the young and the old.
• Ensure that you as the trainer (or any other participant) do not dominate the discussions, or
present too much your own opinion. Part of the trainer’s role is to guide the discussions. Try to
encourage participants to listen to each other and pay attention to the progress of the
discussion. If the discussion starts to wander to other subjects, note this for future sessions but
bring the discussion back to the main issue by asking direct questions.
• Ask participants to lead or chair a discussion. This promotes ‘ownership’.
• Prepare yourself for existing differences of opinion which might come up during the discussion
as there can be strong alternative views or clashes of opinion. Disagreements can actually
sharpen the issues under discussion. At the same time, ensure respect towards all participants
at all times. If some participants ridicule the opinions of others, cut them short and point out
that this is unacceptable group behaviour.
• Pay attention to time management.
• Listen carefully to what participants say, not what you expect them to say. Concentrate on what
is actually happening, not on what you planned to happen.
• Prepare for the discussion but do not dominate it. Use your ideas and information to move the
discussion along and help to clarify points.
Group work
During gender training workshops, small group work is one of the main educational methods as
‘learning by sharing experience’ is likely to be more effective than ‘learning by being told. Group
work is an active method and encourages cooperation. It allows for more speaking time by
everybody and the build-up of alliances and networking between participants. It enables less
confident participants to become involved in discussion. The reporting back after the group work
provides an effective way of structuring the discussion and drawing out the main points on which
consensus can be reached.
The division of participants for the group work exercises is of major importance and should not be
left to the participants themselves or to chance. The trainers should divide the participants into
balanced groups. Criteria to be taken into consideration are: language ability, sex, background,
grade, area of expertise, age. Sometimes it will be useful to group participants by common
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