It

1
Its rainingtrainingbut will the crops
grow?

• by Guy Berger,
• presentation to
• NCRF Training Providers Consultative meeting
• 3 August 2001

2
Ideal logic

• Community radio ?
• Community of radio stations (NCRF) ?
• Community of radio training providers?

3
Get close up

• Ideal vs reality
• a real community is constructed
• a real community contains both conflict
  concord
• recognise real interests

4
Trainers interests

• True or false?
• Radio trainers are pure altruists
• Community radio is their passion - but also their
  livelihood.
• They compete with each other.

5
Who earns who learns?

• True or false
• Trainers learn as much if not more
  from training, as do trainees.
• We work like bees, and we already get
  paid for it
• So why bother with something like a trainers
  forum?

6
NCRF interests

• King of the network
• Must deliver to members
• Power to eat any out-of-favour providers

7
Trainees

• True or false?
• Many are professional trainees in search of
  junkets

8
Pray theyll stay

• Hand-up hand-out?
• Drain vs new blood?
• Do we really make enough impact from our
  training?

9

• So, creating a community of trainers has to be a
  hard-nosed business!
• And a very complex one ...

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We need to tackle pedagogy debates

• Methodologies
• Train on-site or not?
• Centre vs periphery
• Language
• Skill, talks texts
• Stations as trainers

11
More debate

• Skills transfer, or is it development?
• Go for breadth, with many trained, or
• Go for depth train fewer, but better

12
Debate multiplier effect

• Do trainees bomb out back at the station? Or is
  it each one, teach one?

13
For a community to fly ...

• Need to agree on core principles about what
  makes for effective training.
• A shared perspective sharing knowledge.

Some possible principles ...
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PRINCIPLE 1 Trainer-trainee-station
Learner-centred
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PRINCIPLE 1 Trainer-trainee-organisation
Learner-centred But context- driven
As the strength of a chain is determined by its
weakest link, so the least contribution of any
one partner becomes the maximum level of
effectiveness possible
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PRINCIPLE 2 Ladder of learning

• One-off and fragmented training experiences
  resource waste
• Investment in progressive learning over time

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PRINCIPLE 3 Training target A Head

• Train the brain
• information
• knowledge
• intellectual skills

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Training target B Hands

• Practice
• Skills to implement

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Target C Heart of the matter

• If you forget about attitude, your training wont
  fly.
• You can train for media freedom ethics, for
  anti-sexism, anti-racism, etc.

20
Target D The Wallet

• The point is
• Whats the pay-off?
• Financial
• Organisational
• Programme-related
• Is there a difference to the fulfillment of the
  community radio mission?

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Holistic training

• So, training should be planned and assessed in
  terms of
• K nowledge
• A ttitude
• P ractice
• P ay-off

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PRINCIPLE 4 PROCESS
No application at the station ? Trainee didnt
learn much ? Cos poor delivery (or good, but )
? Poor course design ? Because wasnt based on
needs, or

• Training is a journey
• - you can trace problems backwards

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Process stages
If it did meet need? May be wrong trainees? Or
workplace blocks ? Or training not
the solution
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Process lessons

• Front-end work
• is critical
• you cant salvage a wrong course or wrong
  trainees.

Secrets of success can also be traced through
preceding stages
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PRINCIPLE 6 EVALUATE

• Reaction do they like it?
• Learning are they learning it?
• Application are they using it?
• Pay-off does it make a difference?

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Remember ...

• Good reaction
• ? learning
• Learning
• ? application
• Application
• ? pay-off
• Its a package.

27
Realms n phases
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Priorities recommended of courses to evaluate
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Evaluation

• Begin before the beginning of a course
• Continue long after the end.
• Cover reaction, learning, application, pay-off
  at every stage.
• Results youll find what works, what needs
  work.

Its this training that did it
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Agreed!
Sharing - in the interests
of training - means we can combine forces to
build a stronger sector
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• Diversity amongst trainers does not preclude
  co-operation, collaboration, or even
  convergence in some cases.

32
Competition
will - and should - continue, but alongside
complaboration collabetition
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Earn your stripes

• Common standards will improve performance.
• Centres of excellence will emerge.

eg. More expertise in kids programmes (W Cape)
drama (KZN) education (Gauteng) etc.
34

• Providers will develop special and unique
  features.
• Alongside a lot of shared overlap in basic
  training (which needs to be spread around the
  regions).

• Rationalisation of training Some will be
  organic, some will be planned

35

• Warning
• without greater co-operation and communication,
  trainers will end up competing over the dead-body
  of community radio.
• Combine to help it conquer!

36
The gain in train

• Serving the sector ? a servant of the sector.
• Providers should offer
• Needs-driven AND needs-arousing training.
• Demand- AND supply- driven courses.
• A proactive community.

37

• Shapiro-Nel study of 14 stations training needs
  recorded that not more than one singled out
• journalism training,
• covering poverty
• reporting local govt.

Only 3 said gender training. None said training
in media convergence. Providers cant ignore
these areas!
38
Working together - way to go

• Accept diverse interests and major complexities.
• Recognise theres a role for all, a need for
  all, space for all.
• Acknowledge complaboration.
• Be active agents.

39
Fly in the ointment?

• How?
• What does NCRF co-ordination mean?
• Can centralisation include fair tenders and
  leveraging?
• Is control a bad thing?

40
Final thought

• Training principle The sign of a good trainer
  is not the impression developed among trainees
  about how well they were taught, but rather, how
  much they feel they have learned.

Likewise, trainer egos should be 2ndary within a
network of providers.
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• Lots of work needed ...
• Cicadas make a racket, but when you look, you
  cant find them!

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Training is a good thingnow lets make it even
better
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The End(or the Beginning?)
http//journ.ru.ac.za/staff/guy/