Education and training: the Great Divide

Over fifteen years ago I opened a presentation to senior academics at Surrey University with this statement. “I am a trainer, you are educators, the difference between trainers and educators is that trainers know what they are trying to achieve”. At the time I was responsible for developing all the training that Lloyds Bank delivered to its employees and had been asked to deliver a presentation on corporate training. Could I justify the same opening statement today with the web, e-learning 2.0, social networking and all the other changes in the world of work and learning?

Traditionally trainers have delivered performance-related training to enable employees to do their job. The work of Robert Mager (http://www.cepworldwide.com/Bios/mager.htm) has been hugely influential in that thinking. Educators, on the other hand, are more influenced by theories of child development, and at higher levels of education in the development of the subject itself, with students required to make their own way through the topic and think for themselves.

Education has been about knowledge and applying that knowledge, training about performance. It wasn’t always that way. Immediately after the Second World War corporate Training Departments sprang up and created Staff Colleges and Training Centres, all of which delivered lengthy courses imparting knowledge rather than focusing on performance.

Thanks to our current government, educators are now driven by targets to ensure learners pass exams and know what they are trying to achieve; so education may be changing its focus.

Ten years ago I ran a Training Department, now training departments are dead and the world is full of Learning and Development functions. As I left LloydsTSB, I created the blue print for the University of LloydsTSB, but even then we were hesitant about using the phrase “learning” in the corporate environment. Ten years ago there was a watershed in corporate thinking about training, largely driven by the Learning Age green paper (http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/greenpaper/) but also fuelled by technology in a performance support role. If the answer to anything can be found in ten minutes, if not on Wikipedia then elsewhere on the Web, do we really need to acquire knowledge to do our jobs?

Technology makes it easier to simplify jobs – referred to as “de-skilling”, a truly dreadful term, in my view. Employees in a call centre are supported by technology which delivers a script they read out depending on the response from the customer and need less training; but what about the awkward customer like me who refuses to follow the script? At the same time there is a growth in creative jobs requiring independent thought; web site creation, web server databases, for example.

Fifty percent of school leavers are destined for degrees: but what sort? There are fewer Physics and Maths A-level students (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6549229.stm) and therefore fewer who can succeed in the “hard science” degrees that drive so many technical innovations. But there are more graduates and many more degree course in subjects that maybe of doubtful value. Boris Johnson has a view about these degrees (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/08/23/do2301.xml) and so do I.

Educators are still unsure of their performance outcomes, even at vocational levels - and rightly so. If work has changed so much in the last ten years, then what of the next ten? In 2002, I predicted that by 2012 we would drive hybrid 4X4s, have an Audio Digital Assistant, possibly implanted with all our personal data and credit cards and travel tickets, and connect to our personal learning assistant (a computer programme, of course) able to search for any information we want and provide performance support instantly. How can trainers deliver performance-related training in an environment which changes so rapidly? Maybe educators have it right, and we have to develop critical thinking, interpersonal skills and flexibility to a higher level than we have done in the past. The nature of competency is changing and with it the nature of academic courses and corporate training. The job requirement is changing and with it the type of degree and qualifications offered; but maybe we should not lose sight of the fundamental building blocks of learning; literacy, numeracy and self-motivation.

Howard Hills