An Examination of Courses Conducted by South Birmingham Technical College for the Training of Training Officers

Abstract

The thesis examines the course for the training of training officers conducted by South Birmingham Technical College, as a result of the Industrial Training Act, 1964. It tries to show the kind of person firms appointed as training officers, how they reacted to different parts of the course, and what changes in training they were able to introduce on their return to the company. From the information obtained it was shown: (i) that the training officer with little background of experience in training and with limited educational qualifications, was nevertheless able to obtain positive benefit from attending a course such as the one at South Birmingham. This seemed to be in contrast with the more highly qualified training officer who did not obtain as much from the course. The importance of what is perhaps an obvious point is that the Central Training Council advocates high educational standards for all training officers. (ii) that this training officer was able to make significant contributions to the firm's training programmes and plans on his return to the company. It is suggested from this that the information obtained could be of interest to management, particularly in a small company having to appoint a training officer for the first time, perhaps from personnel with little or no experience in training. The information may also be of relevance to colleges conducting courses for training officers as it indicates the type of course which can be of most benefit to training officers from similar situations as those who attended the South Birmingham course. Method The method employed was to interview 42 training officers approximately 12 months after they had completed the course and 5 of these a year later. The aim was to find out from them and when possible from management, what training developments had taken place in the organisation and how much of this could be linked with work on the course.