Manual for Training Police on Anti Human Trafficking

Facilitating Skills
It is significant to assess the Learning Needs of your prospective participants to actually know what is
it that you need to address and communicate through your training. The following has been designed
both as an exercise that you can do with participants who are trainer/facilitators themselves and/or use
the in<strong>for</strong>mation to build you own skills.
Important issues in assessing learning skills
Motivation
Brainstorm - Why might people come to your training course on AHT (think of the training task
course initially). Any other factors that motivate people? Note down the responses.
Divide suggested motivations into:
1. EXTERNAL factors (payment, per diem, friends going, told to attend etc.)
2. INTERNAL factors (desire to learn)
Brainstorm on how trainer/facilitator might boost participants’ motivation to learn? What might
cause their motivation to decrease? Some likely conclusions:
1. Motivation based on external factors doesn’t last long – people are there in body but not in
mind.
2. Motivation must come from within. The learner must WANT to partake in the learning – the
facilitator can help them want to by identifying and meeting their needs and by providing
a positive learning experience.
Why should we assess the learning needs of participants? You may want to link this to the section
on motivation and characteristics of adult learners:
- Adults have pre-existing skills, knowledge and experience, to which they will be relating
the training.
- Expertise does not necessarily all lie with the trainer/facilitator.
- Motivation partly depends on trainer/facilitators meeting the learner’ needs and fulfilling
their expectations.
- As course trainer/facilitator, have you/how have you assessed learning needs in the past?
- As course participants, how have their learning needs been assessed?
List different methods e.g. pre-course questionnaire; telephone/email survey; initial session of
the training course and use the most appropriate one <strong>for</strong> your training.
Also of importance is the issue of how much flexibility can be built into the course:
How much are you willing to tailor your course to the learning needs of particular groups?
How much opportunity is there to incorporate participants experience in the course (e.g. in group
exercises, discussions, presentations etc)?
Following is a suggestive pre-course questionnaire that you may want to use to assess learning needs of
your participants:
Samples of learning needs analysis 47
Pre-course Survey: <strong>Training</strong> of Trainer/facilitators on AHT
1. Name: Station:
2. Designation
3. Have you ever attended any training or courses on AHT. If so, which one?
4. Have you attended any courses on training skills <strong>for</strong> AHT. Which one(s)?
5. Have you run training or workshops on AHT or on other issues (If so, which issues?)
6. Are you planning to run training/workshops on AHT? (If so, when? For whom?)
7. What do you hope to get out of this training on AHT?
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