During the course of a discussion, the following was the topic selected by the
forum members:
Why is training so important
for a job/on the job after undergoing so many years of education ? Does it mean
that the trainers are doing better job than the teachers ?
The valid points emanated from three members are reproduced here below
for the information of the readers:
Member 01:
Necessarily there is a difference between a teacher and the
trainer. It is like working in a hotel.
A person who manages the kitchen is called as the chef and the person who
manages the entire administration is called as the “manager”. The same person
can be a chef at one point of time while he accepts the role of a chef and a manager
while he assumes the role of a manager; however, the individual remains the
same.
In the instant case, the teacher fills the knowledge gap. He is instrumental in
enabling the students understand more on
the subjects chosen. In the case of a trainer, he enables the trainee to
acquire certain competencies. Unless a person acquires the necessary
competencies like communication ability, leadership quality, time management,
inter personal relationship, problem solving capability, emotional skills etc,
whatever may be his academic caliber he cannot justify the post he occupies. It
may be managing a retail shop – where he has to handle the difficult customers,
manage time to service the customers promptly and efficiently.
Member: 02
As earlier said, the same person can be a teacher and the trainer. While
the individual performs the role of a
teacher, he concentrates much on the subjects he has to handle rather than the
behavioural aspects of the student. He takes much care in delivering the inputs
rather than the reactions on the part of the students except the learning
inquisitiveness in them. This is on account of the facts that he may not be
having required time and to mention specifically, as a teacher he has to
necessarily make a thorough research over the subjects he handles rather than
personality sitting in front of him .
In the case of a trainer, he has no subjects to teach. He has only personalities in front of him to be
trained. He has no books to read; however, he has individuals to be motivated,
geared up and tuned up. Towards training
the personalities he focuses his in
depth study in reading mindset of the
trainees and employs various tools and
techniques by which the students are driven out from their present mindsets. He
necessarily focuses more on communication ability, leadership quality , problem
solving ability , time management, logical thinking etc.
When the student wants to learn a subject, his role is said to be a
student and when he wants to learn his own competencies and soft qualities, he
is called as a trainee and while the teacher makes an earnest attempt in
enabling the student understand the subjects, the trainer enables the trainee
understand his own traits hidden in the form of strengths and weaknesses.
Member: 03
In a sense dice are loaded against the teachers; however, in favour of
the trainers. A teacher has to cover a variety of topics. It is almost like everything
under the sun. Most of the business schools especially in countries like India
expect the students to cram as many as twelve to fifteen courses in a semester
during the course of acquiring one MBA
qualification. This increases the burden not only on the part of the
students; however, the teachers as well. Normally they are always
sailing on the comparison mode with their counterparts in other business
schools. The time available for completion of these types of exercises is very
limited. Moreover, teachers by virtue of the qualities acquired through their
profession rarely possess real life experiences to highlight the students in
pursuit of acquiring any soft qualities.
A trainer on the other hand has fairly a narrow and focused set of items
in front of him to cover. These are normally related to the immediate job
requirements of the students. The trainer needs to have varieties of live-wire
examples to drive home the trainees in understanding the required competencies
and the lab or practice sessions which are more valuable to bring in requisite
skills are also likely to be more focused in case of company-organised or
facilitated programmes.
In the case of industry-oriented
training programmes, the focus is requirement based and confined to
limited walls. This is almost a luxury that the teacher in a school or college
environment cannot afford.
