Any trainers/learning and development specialists out there? I need your advice!

[Y0ubetterwerk]

Hi all

I'm 10 years into teaching and pretty much done. Zero enthusiasm any more and it's a struggle to get out of bed in the morning.

I'm currently middle managing an additional support department alongside regular teaching. I have Responsibility for timetabling, learning and development of support assistants, staff training in areas of additional support, creating materials etc. I love this part of my job (I genuinely love teaching and creating materials , just not the other drains of the job) and think a step over to e-learning, learning and development would be a good move.

However, I have no idea where to start. I have an English degree, postgrad in teaching, postgrad in inclusion but no L&D qualifications. Is there a specific industry standard qualification I should look to gain if I want to get my foot in the door? What systems should I learn to become proficient in creating e-learning content?

I know it'll be a pay cut so it's a long term plan for when dc are out of primary. I'm hoping I can do a lot of distance learning when dc are asleep!

I also assess learning needs of pupils, design targeted intervention, set learning targets and track and monitor progress. All transferable skills, I'd hope!.

Wish you could edit posts

The single best thing you can do to help is to put some effort into understanding how the world looks from the point of view of someone who wants to hire a corporate L&D professional. They don't know how your teaching skill translates to business L&D unless they came from that background themselves, which is fairly unlikely, and they may worry that you won't know how to deal with adult learners, how to understand commercial goals and manage business stakeholders etc.

I would spend some time reading around on business L&D, there are plenty of white papers and the CIPD has content. Also review job ads in this area - LinkedIn will have tons. Make sure your CV is expressed completely in business language not teaching vocabulary - look at the ads to figure out what this should be.

Digital learning tends to be divided into the learning specialists who shape and storyboard the content, and digital specialists who do the actual back end. The CIPD has a digital learning qualification so I'd probably start there.

The bottom line is that hiring is a big risk, and career changers are always more of a risk because they're untested in your specific environment. To get past that, you need to do as much as you can to talk their language and show you HAVE done all the things they want, just in a different context. Also work your network, if you have any friends or contacts who work in large corporates see if they can introduce you to someone on the L&D team. Connections are probably the single best way to get over the risk hump.

Your inclusion qualification may be an angle you can work. Gender and ethnic diversity is a hot topic for most organisations, and some are also increasingly targeting neurodiversity, but again, it's critical you use the language of business and not that of teaching or academia, which tends to be more formal, abstract and high-minded.

Fascinating post CmdrCressidaDuck.

I work (and manage several staff) in the L&D department of a very niche public sector organisation - but I got there on the strength of my expertise in the operational niche as opposed to my expertise in L&D if that makes sense?

Whilst I'm passionate about my operational background (studied to masters level, 10 years PQE etc), I would like at some point in the next few years to exit the profession and instead carve out a second career for myself in L&D (perhaps moving into the private sector).

My employer is very supportive and there is talk of enrolling me on a Level 5 Consultant L&D apprenticeship (as they know they will benefit from my learning in the interim). Does this sound like a sensible way forward do you think @CmdrCressidaDuck?

I will certainly follow up your advice about networking via friends in corporate environments. I can think of a few people right off the top of my head..

I don't know the details of the apprenticeship and how credible it is really. Who provides it? Does anybody accredit/sponsor it?

In general a practical applied qualification sounds like a good idea but the devil really can be in the details. The CIPD are not the most cutting-edge as a body but they are the authority in HR so if they are involved or support it that's a good sign. Might be worth reading their content on getting into L&D.

I meant to say on my original post for the OP but forgot re digital learning: if your niche is likely to be designing the learning itself you don't need to worry too much about systems or platforms, as generally a specialist in that particular platform will handle the digital end. But every L&D professional needs to know the basics of how you design and deliver digital learning. The selection pressure is relentlessly and inexorably to less classroom learning, more digital and just-in-time delivery, and frequent reskilling.

Not me, but DH. His view is that teachers don’t generally find the transfer very easy, as they are set in their ways, but they won’t be true of all.

DH’s background was in hospitality, and he made the shift about 12 years ago. He used his HR experience, and experience training juniors to blag a junior HR/training job. He then persuaded the company to let him work compressed hours and do a CIPD entry MA alongside. It was a really tough couple of years, but once he had the certificate he was immediately able to get a better job and started making reasonable money.

His view is that there isn’t much money or opportunity in direct training now, and that the field is going very much towards digital learning. He now runs a learning and development department and most of the team are basically programme writers and system admins with L&D knowledge. He manages a learning system that is used globally and there is no actually face-to-face training provided by the team.

@CmdrCressidaDuck yes it's CIPD accredited and they do all the formal assessment at the end. The particular course I'm doing is the highest level they offer. Thanks again for your insights.

Thank you cressida. That is massively helpful advice. I'm going to start looking to the CIPD and ask around to see if anyone in my circle has a contact I can use, even if it's just to review applications.

I'm actually designing whole staff training on supporting neuro diverse learners in the classroom at the moment. It may be a good thing to focus on so thanks for the nudge in that direction.

I was also going to say the CIPD but would recommend looking into conferences and events held for the sector as well. Off the top of my head, the Staff Development Forum (SDF), possibly some of the Advance HE development offering (although I thought of this as HE is the field I am in, so possibly an equivalent for the educational level in which you are most interested). Organizational development may be worth some researching too - this is a field that can be patchy in UK education terms. I have seen workplaces where there may be a specialist academic with plenty of recent publications who works as a tutor for the student programmes, yet little appetite for this to translate into organizational development or strategy in HR functions!

Neurodiversity could be a useful angle to work. It's primarily tech companies for now who are interested, but that may well spread.

Btw I forgot to say what you should actually ask for when you ask for introductions to L&D people I would ask for a coffee chat just to learn about the field and explore how relevant your experience is, that should help you polish your applications/pitch and make you a bit of a known quantity if a role there should come up.

One key difference from teaching to bear in mind, though, is that with children the goal is simply that they learn effectively, and learning itself is considered a greater good etc. (Don't hit me, I believe in learning as a good in itself.) In a business environment, they don't much care if people learn, what they care about is that people change the way they do their actual job in a way which is profitable/helpful. Academic findings are also generally not of much interest, sadly, unless they've been proven in a business environment and/or are highly intuitive. They want expertise, but it has to be expertise that convinces cynical and often not particularly academic businesspeople.

Best of luck! I love the field.

You could look at becoming an assessor - assessing people doing apprenticeships