We work to promote staff competence by developing curricula which provides staff with the awareness, knowledge and skill required to perform role-related tasks. We work with committees of practitioners, supervisors and policy experts to develop and review courses and curricula that are targeted at specific role-related functions. We also use input from other universities and training departments to help identify critical role-related tasks. Our job, then, is to work to build competence in the staff you send to training. As a supervisor, your assessment of the current level of competence of each staff member you send to training is a way of partnering long-distance with the trainer in the room.
Training is worthless if there is no transfer of learning from the workshop to the workplace .
Eager trainees might be able to apply their new competencies to their work all on their own. Even the most willing of staff can be helped if the supervisor can sit down with the employee after training and review the ITNA competencies with the staff person, to get a sense of what awareness, knowledge, and skills were gained in training, and to plan for how these will be applied in the person's work role. This post-training ITNA review can set the stage for the supervisor to follow specific performance criteria related to the application of workshop learning to workplace performance. In addition, the Department of Training is working to increase the number of training workshops offered at regional and local sites, away from the School of Social Work.