The project will be implemented among three public administration organizations dealing with training adult learners - civil servants and it is mainly going to address the needs of public administration sector. The aim of the project is to produce an innovative trainer educator training course and application guidelines upon it for public administration which can be easily adapted to any other training and education sector if necessary. The initial idea about creating the course was based on the needs analysis conducted locally which showed that : a) there are no large scale professional development activities for trainers teaching adults in public administration, there is no opportunity to become a trainer educator if one decides to pursue his/her career in training other trainers, there are no national standards and requirements for trainers teaching adults in non-formal educational environment and there are no guidelines for trainers in public administration. b) The public administration sector lacks training on how to open up the government and the public sector to innovations and include the innovation in the services provided by state government, thus responding to the changing needs of society and adapting to the layout of the population, without reducing the access to the services. Regarding definite procedural steps, there are going to be organized three short term joint staff training events each of which is going to be related to one of the three main topics - facilitation skills, design thinking, functional leadership and innovative entrepreneurship and innovations and cooperation. During these training events the trainer educators selected for the production of the innovative Trainer Educator Training Course and the guidelines to it will prepare and conduct workshops and give presentations on the theoretical and practical issues related to certain subtopics. After these events they will conduct also training demonstration workshops back in their home countries in order to test and validate the material. Then they will work on the content of the Course until the next joint staff training event four days a month and prepare to present the next subtopics for the next joint staff training event. Created together with partner organizations the Trainer Educator Training Course as well as the guidelines will contain the anticipated schedule of the trainer educator course, the theoretical input and practical activities on the main three topics – facilitation skills, design thinking, functional leadership and innovative entrepreneurship and innovations and cooperation as well as other specific subtopics related to each of the main topics. The course will also describe the methodology and approach recommended and applied and will provide guidelines for trainers working in public administration. The direct target audience of the Trainer Educator Training Course are going to be facilitators of trainer educators and also trainers in public administration sector. This could make about 2000 people in all three partner organizations together. The highlight of the course and of the guidelines will be to introduce a business approach to training in public administration since it is vital to equip the trainers and learners with entrepreneurship skills and the knowledge of how to innovate in order to make them more competitive and employable as well as to improve services provided for general public by public administration organizations.
The project is implemented by three public administration organizations training state civil servants: the LSPA – the Latvian School of Public Administration, the KSAP – The Lech Kaczyński National School of Public Administration of Poland and the HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management. CONTEXT The initial idea about creating the course was based on the analysis which showed that: a) there are no large scale professional development activities for trainers teaching adults in public administration, no opportunity to become a trainer educator and no guidelines for trainers in public administration. b) The public administration sector lacks training on how to open up the government and the public sector to innovations and include the innovation in the services provided by the state government. OBJECTIVES The objective of the project was to develop a Trainer Educator Training Course (TEC) for the trainers in public administration sector and upon the course develop the Guidelines for training which would contain a new approach, a methodology, a schedule of the course, lesson outlines and activities to be ready for the use in in-service training of trainer educators in public administration institutions. NUMBER AND TYPE/PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS The direct target audience is training facilitators, trainer educators and also trainers in the public administration sector. These are about 2000 people in all three partner countries together. The participants were professionals relevant to the Adult Education, Higher Education, non-formal education sectors and public administration sector; also the training staff working at LSPA, KSAP, and HAUS. DESCRIPTION OF UNDERTAKEN ACTIVITIES - 3 short-term-joint-staff training events organized in Poland, Finland and Latvia, related to 7 topics aka Modules of the TEC. - 9 Training demonstration workshops in Latvia, 3 in Poland and 3 in Finland after each short-term joint staff training event. - Informative briefing sessions for the staff of each institution involved in the implementation of the project ad by relevant stakeholders. - 2 day International conference attended by 35 trainers from various public sector institutions, educational centers and universities of Latvia in order to learn about the aims and scope of the project, specific subjects related to the adult education and try out the activities presented in the TEC. - 3 different 3 hours long workshops on the topics based on the content of the TEC as a part of the Multiplier Event, attended by 32 trainers/educators from various public sector institutions, educational centres and universities. RESULTS AND IMPACT ATTAINED - The Innovative Trainer Educator Course (TEC) for the trainer educators and trainers in the public administration sector which stimulates innovative and interactive approaches to training and learning in the public sector. The Course provides an opportunity to embrace the main areas of key competencies for trainers/ trainer educators in public administration and enhance them with the knowledge about the innovative ways of training their subjects of expertise. The highlight of the course is to make trainers more competitive and employable as well as to improve services provided for the general public by public administration organizations. The Course will impact the improvement of trainers’ facilitation skills; will develop their design thinking; will impact the more efficient use of the ICT; will give the better understanding of the concept of the innovation which trainers will apply in accordance to their competence arias and to the specific educational needs of public servants. The Course can be easily adapted to any other training and education sector if necessary. - Guidelines for trainers working in the public administration sector on how to apply Training Educator Training Course to all of the areas of adult education, on how to conduct it. The Guidelines will allow every educational organization to train their trainers on how to become trainer educator, so they could in their turn train other trainers on how to effectively deliver their specific subject and contribute to the implementation of innovations on every level of the society, aiming particularly the public service sector. LONGER-TERM BENEFITS - Guidelines for trainers for applying and conducting the TEC will be used in the in-house documents of LSPA, KSAP, and HAUS to ensure a unified approach to the training delivery. - There are going to be organized at least two teachers/ trainers training events a year on the basis of the produced results. - The LSPA and the KSAP will share the course and the guidelines with the public service administrating institution – the State Chancellery and will make the course a part of the regular training program in the LSPA and KSAP. - The Course and the Guidelines in English, Latvian and Polish languages are freely available on the web pages of the 3 partner institutions.