1. Training transfer from the classroom to the workplace
Am I on the right track?
Training transfer from
the classroom to the workplace
Good morning, my name is Justine Lee and I’m a learning and development project officer at the Centre for Community and Welfare Training, which is better known by its acronym CCWT, located in Sydney.
This morning I’d like to speak to you about a study on training transfer, around a group of training courses held by CCWT.
Justine Lee
Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies/
Centre for Community Welfare Training

2. Definition of Training Transfer
Transfer of training is defined as the degree to which trainees effectively apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained in a training context to the job. The conditions of transfer include both the generalisation of learned material to the job and the maintenance of trained skills over a period of time on the job.
Baldwin and Ford, 1988, p 63

3. Why do this research? CCWT’s impact on training transfer
Transfer issues
Training is costly
Lack of research
What are the other reasons why this study is important?
Purpose of study is to find out what CCWT can do about transfer, and hopefully, this study will have implications for other RTOs.
According to transfer literature only 10% to 62% of what is learnt in training is transferred to the workplace. A concern.
Training is costly. All stakeholders including organisations and training providers want value for money.
Lack of research around community services and training providers point of view

4. The Research Questions
Have the trainees perceived any transfer of training after attending CCWT workshops?
What do the trainees perceive as facilitating effective transfer in their workplaces?
Main aim of the study was to find out if trainees perceived any transfer after attending training, to identify whether our training had any impact on their work practices.
The other aim was finding out what they perceived as facilitating transfer in their workplaces.
With the second question, the study aimed to expand on CCWT’s current system of evaluating trainee reaction and learning by referring to the variables that contemporary transfer research says has impact on transfer –
trainee characteristics (e.g. motivation, confidence, perceived usefulness of training),
training design, and delivery (e.g. needs assessment, provision of relevant content and materials), and
supervisory/organisational support (e.g. pre training discussion, release from job to attend, opportunity to practice post training).
Particularly interested in findings around around the training design and delivery factor which, as a training provider, CCWT will be able to use and have significant control over to improve its services.
Findings on other variables, such as supervisory/organizational support, also was important because we can be informed about other factors at play around transfer, and possibly do what we can to influence them to provide better outcomes for training participants.
I hoped that the results and the implications may add to the existing literature on transfer, and also possibly benefit to other training providers similar to CCWT, particularly as literature search uncovered very little on transfer issues associated with training providers in the community services context. Research available on just transfer in the community services setting is also very limited. On top of that, despite huge volume of literature on transfer of learning, there is not much attention paid to facilitating transfer with more action oriented strategies.

5. Methodology Literature review 5 workshops were chosen for the study
Pre training and post training surveys
Semi structured telephone interviews
Data based on self reporting and trainee perceptions
Methodology
Pre Training and Post training surveys
One on one semi structured interview by telephone
Five workshops were chosen for the study, 2 Accidental counsellor, 1 difficult conversations, 1 case management masterclass (all four are communication focused, or soft skills) and 1 case notes and documentation workshop.
The study used two sets of surveys, pre training and post training surveys, plus a semi structured one on one phone interview with those who volunteered after completing the surveys. Trainees from five training workshops were approached to take part in the study, and of the 89 participants, the pre training survey had 58% response rate and the post training survey had 47%. Due to time constraints only 10 of 35 participants who volunteered were interviewed.
Time period
11 to 31 days after training for interviews, 2-5 days for pre training and 1 day after post training.
Both the survey and interview questions were developed with reference to factors such as trainee motivation, training design and delivery, and supervisory/organisational support, which as I referred to earlier were identified in the literature as being necessary for facilitating transfer.

6. Who are the respondents?
Gender (Female)
80% Pre Training
72% Post Training
Age (20-39)
59% Pre Training
50% Post Training
Highest Level of Education (Tertiary)
94% Pre Training
83% Post Training
Number of Years in the Job
(0-3 years)
Sectors - the respondents were from very diverse sectors including youth, mental health, housing, child and family, health, education, etc.
Job roles - the respondents job roles were also very diverse with case workers, team leaders/coordinators and administration workers forming largest groups. 20% juggled between 2- 4 roles.

7. Lauren Angela Allied health worker Health (Rehabilitation Unit)
Between years of age
Diploma
Over 10 years in the job
Youth worker
Large state-based organisation
Between years of age
Bachelors degree
1-3 years in the job

8. Top 3 reasons for attending training
Ranking
To improve skills or knowledge 1
To work with better with clients 2
For personal development 3
Participants were invited to choose more than one.
Other reasons include:
to build on and enhance existing knowledge and skills,
to gain new strategies or skills,
to provide better client service,
change in responsibility,
attending training being a job requirement,
to improve career prospects, and
VERY interesting - to seek affirmation for current work practice, and reassurance that the participant is on the ‘right track’. This is where the title of the research and this presentation comes from.

9. What Lauren and Angela said…
‘I wanted more of an understanding in how to about making (case) files and what’s required in a file’.
Lauren
‘I’ve been in this job for a long time. It’s always good to be able to know what you’re doing is right or how you can improve…to be updated with any new innovations. I think it’s a consolidation of what you do’.
Angela

10. More about the respondents
Relevance of training – 91% of respondents
Motivation to transfer – 91% of respondents
Trainees’ expectations and what they gained
‘…[I wanted to be] learning what to say, the right thing to say and what to do…my expectations were met to a great extent. I’ve really liked the course and actually told other staff and other people about it’.
Motivation
84% of pre training survey respondents and 91% of post training survey respondents reported feeling motivated or very motivated about applying what they have learnt back at their workplace.
Expectations and what was gained
Pre training survey respondents mostly expected to update and refresh their existing skills and knowledge, improve client work, gain specific tools (how to do, what to do), strategies and framework in the topic areas, and confidence to use them.
The post training survey respondents gave more specific answers to this question, which were less idealistic; e.g. there was a dramatic fall in the number of people who cited the desire to improve client work, and more specific mention of knowledge gained from a workshop, for example writing case notes succinctly.
Training relevance
92% of the pre training survey respondents expected the training they were about to undertake was relevant to their training needs.
91% of post training survey respondents said that the training they attended was relevant to their learning needs.

11. Training delivery and resources
Trainer Performance
Over 75% of the respondents rated the following aspects of trainers’ performance as ‘Very Good’ or ‘Good’:
Knowledge of the topic – (88% of respondents)
Creating interest in the topic
Responding to questions
Understanding your needs
Relating the training to your job role
‘…she was a brilliant presenter…
normally at three o’clock you’re kind of starting to phase out but with her I didn’t find that as much as usual which is a good thing’.
Lauren
Respondents of the post training survey and the interview respondents gave positive feedback on the training delivery and trainer performance post workshop.
You can see the full list on the slide.
What’s worth noting is the lower level of satisfaction with ‘relating the training to your job role, and understanding your needs.
This is an interesting challenge for a provider like CCWT and other similar organistions who cater to very diverse groups of people.
This difference may be partly explained by the diverse work roles and organisational types of the respondents who attended the workshops.
The enrolment lists for the five workshops show that on average, each workshop consisted of 9 different agencies and 11 different work roles, and this reflects a consistent overall pattern in the mix of attendants seen at other CCWT workshops.
This diversity presents a challenge for trainees and also in particular for trainers, who are expected and required to train people from diverse professional and organisational backgrounds who have a variety of learning needs and different levels of knowledge and experience.
Training Resources
Lit review doesn’t say very much about the impact of training resources on transfer, I found one which talks about anecdotal evidence.
In this case though, Post training survey respondents strongly agreed (52%) or agreed (21%) that the training materials they received were effective in helping them to learn.
Interview respondents stated that the materials they had received were a valuable resource – for refreshing one’s learning back at the workplace, for reflection, for use as a toolkit, and for sharing information with colleagues.

12. Impact on the level of knowledge, skills and confidence post training
Table 1: Impact on level of knowledge before and after training
The highest number of respondents had ‘good’ levels of knowledge, skills and confidence before training.
Just over a third of respondents reported ‘no’ or a ‘little’ knowledge, skills and confidence before training
After training, the number of respondents who gained ‘good’ or ‘very good’ levels of knowledge, skills and confidence increased, and none reported having ‘no knowledge’ or ‘a little knowledge.
The highest number of respondents had ‘good’ levels of knowledge, skills and confidence before training.
After attending training, the highest number of respondents reported gaining a ‘good’ level of knowledge, skills and confidence, followed by the next largest group that reported having ‘very good’ level of knowledge, skills and confidence.
On average, respondents’ levels of knowledge, skills and confidence increased by one level, e.g. from level 3 (a little) to level 4 (average), or level 4 (average) to level 5 (good).
It doesn’t show on this graph but I want to point out that, some respondents did not perceive any change in their levels of knowledge, skills and/or confidence post training. For example, according to 17% of the respondents, their level of knowledge in the training topic remained unchanged at level 4 (good), pre and post training.
This may indicate that some respondents are already possess good skills and knowledge, but attended the workshops for reinforcement or reassurance, as discussed earlier in this report. The high number of respondents who reported ‘good’ level of knowledge, skills and confidence prior to training, regardless of the outcome post training, also supports this suggestion. However it is also possible that some respondents thought they did not gain more knowledge, skills or confidence from the training.
This also brings up the issue of having a diverse group of people in the training room, as discused earlier – with that many people, we could summise that it’s difficult to increase someone’s learning from none to good – the trainer needs to take into account everyone’s needs. So this is another challenge and seems to fit with the figures under training delivery.

13. Application of learning and opportunities to practice
Very high number of respondents expected to apply the skills and knowledge immediately.
78% of pre training respondents and 83% of post training respondents expected to apply the skills and/or knowledge immediately after the training.
81% of post training survey respondents expected to have opportunities to practice what they learnt frequently or very frequently.

14. Respondents’ perception of impact on performance or approach to work
‘…I guess having more empathy for the person that rings up; acknowledging and recognising that they are in a distressed state; reassuring them – using different techniques that I learnt…now I feel more confident’.
Changes in attitude, behaviour and skills perceived by 9 out of 10 interview respondents
We’re now moving in to the transfer territory:
For over half of these respondents, changes in attitude and skills appear to be related, and occurred concurrently.
Most of the respondents strongly confirmed that they will continue applying what they have learnt in their work practice.

15. Gaining of transferable skills
Training made an impact on areas outside of the immediate work roles
An unexpected finding from this study was the transfer of knowledge, skills and/or confidence outside of the work environment that occurred for some of the respondents.
50% of the interview respondents found that the knowledge and skills they gained had an impact outside of the immediate work roles. DV, Church Ministry, move to construction.

16. Organisational and supervisory support
How supportive would your supervisor be in implementing your skills and knowledge from this training to your work practice?
‘…we were encouraged to attend [training] because…our managers felt that it would be really useful for us to be on the same page when it came to writing up case notes and having the same amount of knowledge on it as well’.
Post Training
Highly Supportive
62%
Supportive
31%
Neither supportive nor unsupportive 5%
Unsupportive 0%
Highly unsupportive
Unspecified 2%
Other
TOTAL
100%
84% of the pre-training survey respondents and 95% of the post-training survey respondents reported that their organisations were highly supportive or supportive of their continuing professional development
89% of pre training survey respondents reported that their supervisors were supportive or highly supportive in enabling them to attend the training
As you can see, 93% of the post training sruvey respondents said their supervisors would be supportive or highly supportive in implementing their skills and knowledge gained from the workshop.
How did the trainees hear about the training?
It’s interesting that the support from supervisors is clearly reflected in the way in which the respondents heard about the workshops – For example, 43% of the pre training survey respondents heard about the workshop from their supervisors, and this increased to 51% when people who chose more than one source were included, e.g. supervisor, CCWT website, etc.

17. Lauren | Angela
‘Training is definitely encouraged and supported as much as possible and it’s expected that we have a look at the training that comes out each month and see if anything is suitable for us Lauren
‘…..In terms of employment, I’m very fortunate in that I have an incredibly supportive manager…
Angela

18. Implications for Organisations: Factors that facilitate training transfer as perceived by the respondents
Peer support – e.g. back at the workplace
Attending training with co-workers
Mentoring
Opportunities to practice
Training delivery – including materials, specific tools (how to, what to do)
Assessment following training
Personal responsibility
Now we’ll move to what factors were perceived by the respondents as facilitating training transfer:
The level of support that the survey respondents expected from their peers in implementing their learning back at the workplace was high, with 86% saying their peers will be supportive or highly supportive – this is almost as high as what the level of support they perceive they will receive from their supervisors.
Interview respondents said attending training with their co-workers had a significant, positive impact on their work practices.
Regarding attending with peers,
….[Attending with colleagues] was actually really good, because….they’d only just started and it allowed me to get to know them… there’s three of us working in a fairly close team and it’s good to know the way they view things as well. Because the three of us went at the same time, we’re all applying a similar thing….we’ve all got different ways of doing it but it has the same end effect. So that really helps.
Allowing one person to attend , the workplace may not be maximising the benefit it could receive form the training.
Mentoring – example of three month mentoring partership as good example.
Other factors:
Training delivered over several sessions to help consolidate learning over a period of time
Integration of a session on transfer into workshops.

19. Barriers to transfer
‘…I really think the only barrier is myself and my personality So I really think it's just me. I'd be the only barrier’.
‘I guess the biggest barrier would be not using the knowledge immediately after the training…so you can forget things’.
‘Well, you need more time. It's as simple as it gets’.
84% of the pre training survey respondents and 83% of post training respondents did not anticipate any issues that may prevent them from applying what they have learnt back at their work setting.
Those who did anticipate barriers cited level of confidence, institutional inertia, lack of time and opportunities to practise new learning, and potential conflict between the implementation of new learning with existing team or organisational policies and procedures.
Some interviewees named barrier which are unusual. For example, a person who attended an accidental counsellor course said:

20. Summary of findings
CCWT workshop participants did perceive transfer of training.
Factors perceived to facilitate transfer of training:
1. Trainee characteristics
e.g. high level of motivation
2. Training design and delivery
Positive feedback on trainers and resources – more exploration needed
3. Supervisory and organisational support
e.g. peer support
Trainee characteristics, supervisory and organisational support, peer support, time and opportunity to practise learning gained, and effective training design and delivery which includes specific strategies to promote transfer were perceived to be important by the trainees in promoting transfer at the time of data collection as well as in the future.

21. Implications for CCWT and other RTOs
Establish benchmarks to measure impact of training
Training programmes which are mindful of transfer
An annual longitudinal study of trainees
Promote peer support
Encourage supervisory/organisational support
Fine tune training pitch – one strategy is a short pre-training survey to gauge current levels of skills and knowledge of trainees.
Design and deliver training programmes which are mindful of transfer, including building in specific time to discuss transfer in training sessions.
An annual longitudinal study to follow a small group of trainees and their perception of training transfer over a period of time.
Peer support - promote evidence to client organisations that training co-workers together can increase benefits for organisations, and encourage them to send more than one worker to a training workshop.
Encourage supervisory and organisational support to client organisations. Provide support to supervisors through training, and customised supervision services
This case study has documented the factors that promote or hinder transfer of learning in adult professional training and work contexts.
The results from the study, comprised of perspectives of trainees, reflect many of the elements posited by the training transfer literature, highlighting the critical role of work environment in nurturing and advancing transfer, in which supervisory and organisation support is the vital key.
Training design and delivery was shown to be another major factor for successful transfer, and the ways in which training providers, who bear much responsibility for this component in the transfer continuum, can provide the necessary support was discussed.
This study has shown that each of the three primary factors influencing transfer cannot operate in isolation from each other, and that interaction and integration of the three factors are essential for optimal transfer of learning, and positive changes for community services workers, both personally and professionally.

22. Thank you
Justine Lee Learning and Development Project Manager (Calendar) ACWA/CCWT