Needs assessment

Now that you know something about how teacher training is conducted in your host country, you are ready to begin thinking about training teachers. The first step in designing a training program is to determine what it is that the participants (in your case, the teachers) need to know. This process is referred to as a needs assessment.

The purpose of a needs assessment is to gather two key points of information and, using the formula below, determine the needs of the teachers you will train. You need to determine: What the teacher is required/expected to know and what they already know. This will give you an idea of what they need to learn in your training program.

The following chart will help you address important competency areas for teachers by providing key questions in each of them.

Questions

Questions (continued)

The next steps involve finding the answers to these questions. This means that you need to know where to go, who to see and how to gather the information. Some suggestions for information sources and data-gathering techniques for each of the three areas are listed below:

ACTIVITY BOX

1. Make a list of 811 the people (by title and/or name) you need to consult in order to design an in-service teacher training program.

2. Make a list of the questions you would ask each of the above people. Try to write these in the form of a short questionnaire or an interview guide.

3. Conduct a mini-needs assessment in your school or with colleagues aimed at developing a weekend workshop for teachers and/or administrators.