Training Needs Assessment (TNA)

1. Training Needs Assessment(TNA) By: Rainer Zachmann Unit: M03U02

2. Content • Why assess training needs? • Approach of TNA • Semi-structured interviewing

3. Introduction • Training needs assessment (TNA)gives guidance for a productive training event. • Unit M03U02 helps to plan and implement TNA.

4. Introduction • TNA clarifies whether training is the solution to a problem. • Trainers decide how the factors described are relevant for TNA.

5. Why Assess Training Needs?

6. Why assess training needs? • Training on PGIS is diverse and complex. • TNA should be an open-ended, flexible and dynamic process. • A training programme depends on the context.

7. Why assess training needs? • TNA determines the current and desired performance; the difference, or gap, is the needed learning. • TNA includes the political, economic, social and cultural environment and the physical and human resources available.

8. Why assess training needs? • TNA collects information on knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) needed for the job. • Participatory involvement of trainees is necessary to ensure a sense of ownership commitment, and accomplishment of objectives.

9. Include relevant stakeholders • Stakeholders help identify: • sources of information; • administrative and technical challenges; • possible obstacles and proposed solutions.

10. What does TNA determine? • Whether there is a real training need. • The root causes of poor performance. • The desired performance level (i.e. the expected results of training).

11. What does TNA determine? • Baseline data for planning content and scope of training. • Possible support from stakeholders, concerned organisations and prospective participants.

12. Approach of Training Needs Assessment

13. Relevancy • Trainers decide to what extent these steps are relevant for TNA: • identify stakeholders with relevance to the training process; • ask about their expectations, concerns, suggestions, possible conflicts of interest, etc. • identify challenges that require training.

14. Factors for TNA • TNA depends on: • expertise present; • time available and costs involved; • reliability and importance of information; • number and location of people involved; • confidentiality of data; • culture and social climate within an organisation.

15. Job analysis • Ask about job frequency, importance and difficulties. • Estimate priorities.

16. Interviews • Yield in-depth information, background and suggestions. • Individual interviewing is labour-intensive. • Groups of relevant people may be interviewed together. • Make sure to get viewpoints of everyone, not just of the most outspoken people.

17. Questionnaires • Collect specific information from a large group. • Questionnaires may not allow for free expression.

18. Observations • To assess skills, attitudes and behaviour under real situations. • Observations are time-consuming and labour-intensive.

19. Skills and knowledge tests • Skills tests assess skills. • Inappropriate performance may be due to lack of knowledge. • Knowledge tests complement skills tests.

20. Performance data reviews • Identify possible performance gaps through data reviews. • Insufficient performance may be confounded with external factors that cannot be solved through training.

21. Conclusions • TNA makes sure that challenges can be addressed by training. • Non-training measures may be needed. • Trainers discuss steps with the institutions and people concerned.

22. Semi-structured Interviewing (SSI)

23. Interviewing • Interviews are useful for gathering information. • But interviewing requires skills and techniques.

24. Semi-structured interviewing • Semi-structured interviewing requires considerations on: • the art of interviewing; • content of the interview; • guidelines for note taking.