Training Staff in Voluntary Organisations:challenges in providing a service to adults with learning disabilities

Abstract

A multiple case study approach is used to explore training in voluntary organisations that provide a day or residential service to adults with learning disabilities, to explain the differences in training between services and the extent of the gap between the training received and the skills perceived as needed by individuals to carry out their task effectively. The aim is not to prescribe a ‘right way to do training.’ Instead the research provides a greater understanding and insight into some of the factors and processes that underlie the training in voluntary organisations. The findings yield much needed empirical data on voluntary organisations as well as providing a useful point of comparison and critique with existing theory and data on training more generally. It is suggested that differences in the training received by individuals in the voluntary sector day and residential services for adults with learning disabilities studied, can be explained by examining the division of control over the resources available for training, and the management approach to training at different levels in the service and wider organisation. There may also be a link with the accessibility of information. Furthermore despite the differences in training, three of the services described were perceived as meeting the skill needs of the majority of individuals working within them, so that the individuals were able to carry out their tasks effectively. These findings can only be a starting point in developing much needed theoretical and empirical work. However it is valuable in both identifying many of the problems in carrying out research in these types of organisations, and in providing a basis for future research.