(introduction...)

In preparing yourself to be a teacher trainer, there are a variety of things you need to be aware of. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, you must recognize that you are entering a culture and education system that is often dramatically different from your own. In addition, any knowledge you have of teaching children will have to be adapted and reconsidered before you can begin to train adult teachers. You will need to become skilled in the areas of needs assessment, training design and implementation of training programs. In addition, you will have to develop your skills as a supervisor of teachers.

It may help to think of this chapter as a series of baskets, stacked one inside the other. Each basket serves as a container for the next, giving it a place to sit and a broader context and point of reference. Each basket also contains certain skills that you need to master to be a successful trainer of teachers.

What a teacher trainer needs to know

The largest basket represents your personal understanding of education in the host country. The next basket (set inside the context of the education system) represents needs assessment - or discovering the training needs of the teachers. The next basket represents information about adult learning and surrounds and supports the basket which addresses how to design a training program. The final baskets represent the specific skills you need to implement a successful teacher training program: training techniques and supervision skills. Having started from the general context of an educational system and moved to the specific aspects of a training program, this chapter concludes by stepping back and examining a key aspect of your success as a trainer - your ability to quickly and accurately assess personal skills, knowledge and abilities and those of the teachers you are training.

Chapter 1 will be spent developing the skills that fill these baskets. These skills, added a bit at a time as topics are explored within each section, can be referenced by the trainer according to which basket they are in. The trainer should also remember that these sections are not isolated baskets of skills, but are part of a series of containers that have a contextual relationship with each other. The individual who can design a training program but knows nothing of the educational context, teacher training needs or training techniques will not be an effective teacher trainer. This chapter will introduce you to each of the areas and skills you need to be an effective trainer of teachers.