By Christina Jacober, Managing Director of the Training of Trainers System, Switzerland

Being an expert in your own profession does not necessarily mean that you are good at passing your knowledge and experience on to others. When the Swiss Federation for Adult Learning (SVEB) started to develop a curriculum for Training in Adult Education, it was because we believe that adult and community education requires quality teaching. This was the starting point for developing our now well-known system for Training of Trainers (ToT) in Switzerland.

Modular ToT system

The ToT system was established in the 1990s. It was based on the principle, one curriculum for all. Whether one is teaching languages, technical skills or is a trainer in health care, the competencies are the same.

The training is available to everyone, regardless of the profession in which they teach.

Today the modular ToT system includes everything from classroom teaching to managing training programmes.

The three levels of the ToT system are briefly presented below.

Level I: SVEB Trainer Certificate

The first level of the ToT System is designed for part-time trainers in adult education. It enables them to prepare, teach and analyse the training needs of adults – using the given concepts, curricula and teaching materials.

There are two qualifications: The Certificate in Teaching Adult Learners – which is suitable for people who teach mainly groups; and the Professional Practice Trainer Certificate – which focuses on individual learning.

A certificate course lasts 14 days. In addition participants are required to complete 165 hours of individual study. Before the certificate can be awarded they must complete 150 hours of teaching practice.

Level 2: Federal Trainer Diploma

Professionals who wish to specialise in adult education within an educational institution or in a company will study the level 2 programme.

Candidates will learn to develop, teach and evaluate lessons and concepts for adults in their own field of expertise.

There are five modules which take about 480 hours to complete. A hundred and sixty hours are in class or online and participants must complete 320 hours individual study. There is a final exam. Before a participant can get their qualification – Trainer with Federal Diploma in Higher Education, they must complete an additional 15 hours of teaching practice.

Level 3: Advanced Federal Diploma

People who have worked for several years in an educational institution or in the training department of a larger company often assume either management and leadership roles or pursue a specialist  career.

Level 3 of the ToT system offers two ways to expand competencies and become an Expert in adult education, be it in Management or Education expertise. The corresponding qualifications are Advanced Federal Training Manager Diploma and the Adult Education Curriculum Designer with Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education.

To achieve this level candidates must complete another 2600 hours. This includes 800–900 hours in class or online, or 1300–2000 practice in a position of responsibility. A final examination must be passed.

Our success story

The first SVEB-Certificate was released in 1996. In each of the last ten years about 3000 people have completed their SVEB Trainer Certificate. In 2020 this compares with around 2500 people in Switzerland who completed their Bachelor of Teaching in primary schools.

Since the start of the system around 60,000 Trainer Certificates, 12,000 Federal Diplomas and 180 Advanced Federal Training Diplomas have been issued.

Each year 20–30 Advanced federal Diplomas for Adult Education Curriculum Designers are added.

SVEB is a market leader in qualifications for adult teaching in Switzerland. It is not only a brand but also a standard for quality.

But how was this possible, where do candidates work and how is quality guaranteed?

Quality Assurance

Adult educators teach adults how to guide their dogs, medical staff to upskill or specialise in a certain field, teach yoga or bookkeeping, belong to the professional army, or work as teachers in vocational education and training (VET). They have all gone through training at an institution with a SVEB accreditation.

A further education provider who wants to offer SVEB-modules must go through a process of accreditation.

An accreditation lasts for six years. Within this time one interim audit takes place. After six years the whole process starts afresh.

Future plans

In 2018 SVEB started a process of renewing the whole system. After interviews and workshops with leaders in professional education, scientists in the field of adult learning and people who have a ToTqualification at levels 2 and 3 a new profile has been developed.

There are seven key areas:

• More learning – less teaching
• Increasing significance of supporting learning processes
• Strengthening the interaction and the relationship between trainers and trainees
• Implementing digital tools and communication channels becoming standard methods
• Orientation towards competencies becomes accepted approach
• Transfer becomes an integral aspect of learning and teaching settings
• Focus on reflection of one’s own professional competencies and development towards professional standards.

The new ToT-system starts in 2023 and accreditations will take place from 2022.

The new profile builds on proven and fundamental competencies of learning and teaching. It represents a learning world which includes trends in individualisation, subject orientation, digitalisation and a focus on learning processes.

The message is, that teachers are learners too.