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TRAINERS' PACK
SECTION 2 - GUIDANCE ON DEVELOPING AND DELIVERING TRAINING ACTION PLANS
The aim of training is to support the effective implementation of the FOISA in your authority. Training provision and policy development may continue in parallel. Trainers should be aware of policy developments but ensue that their task is recognised as a separate and specific one. In developing a training action plan you will need to:
- evaluate the training needs of your organisation;
- plan how to meet those training needs;
- deliver appropriate training;
- evaluate the effectiveness of the training.
You should ensure that you consider the needs of new staff and include a review of the organisation's induction material in your planning.
Not all the training needs of your organisation may be satisfied using the material in this pack. For example specialist training on records management or legal skills may be required which is outside the scope of this project.
Before commissioning this suite of material the Freedom of Information Implementation Group developed a training strategy ( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/FCSD/MCG-NW/00018022/annex4.pdf). You may find it helpful to have regard to this document before carrying out your training needs assessment.
CARRYING OUT A TRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENT
In order to do this successfully you will need to set out clear objectives for what you want to achieve by FOISA training. The training strategy model set out by the Implementation Group describes the three different levels at which the training strategy needs to work as covering knowledge and information, skills and behaviour and culture and commitment. It also sets out an example of freedom of information learning objectives for different levels of staff.
In order to formulate your plan you must assess your organisation and marry that assessment together with the training strategy model to decide who needs what training and at what level of detail.
ASSESSING YOUR ORGANISATION
Ensure that you are aware of any relevant training initiatives in your department or any wider group of which you are a part.
Freedom of information is an area in which almost everyone in the organisation will require some degree of training even if it is only basic awareness. You therefore need to review your entire organisation. You may already have experience in rolling out a training programme for all staff and be able to look to an existing model. Alternatively you may have a mechanism to delegate training to different units or departments. Remember however that if you do delegate you need to be able to ensure the quality, consistency and success of the training delivered.
The Implementation Group suggests that you should assess the training needs by considering the different levels of risk to your organisation,
"It will be for individual bodies to identify what training is essential, desirable etc (e.g. what must be done should be done or could be done) within the available resources. In undertaking this task an important consideration for all organisations will be to assess the likely significance of the FOI legislation and culture change for their organisation. For example is the organisation already relatively open in its information culture or does it require significant change? Is the organisation likely to receive many FOI requests or relatively few?"
The strategy document sets out a simple matrix to help clarify the strategic significance of the FOISA regime.
Having carried out this exercise you will need to consider how different staff and business areas will be affected and what the training needs are for those staff.
Three broad target groups are suggested for training and communication although it is recognised that all organisations will be different and this cannot be applied without consideration of the particular circumstances. The three target groups are:
- Strategic e.g., Chief Executives / Board Members / Elected Representatives;
- Freedom of information practitioners e.g. decision makers / record managers / review offices / lawyers; and
- General e.g. broad awareness for some staff and some specific external stakeholders.
Having determined the different levels of training it is essential to decide how the training will be provided. You should bear in mind how far people can be expected to carry out learning remotely and where you will need to use seminars or group discussions. It will usually be appropriate to use a blend of mechanisms. Information could be provided via the intranet if one is available or over a period of time by regular updates or bulletins.
It will be sensible to seek to integrate the training if possible with the delivery of other training or other initiatives to avoid clashes or duplication.
Although this particular exercise is focussed on the delivery of training to bring the organisation to an appropriate standard to handle implementation of the FOISA, your plan should also take account of on-going needs.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
The strategy document suggests the following training objectives on access rights as examples for the different levels of staff in an organisation. You will need to customise these training objectives for your particular area.
By the end of the training programme staff/employees will:
- fully understand how FOISA policy and procedures operate;
- fully understand the importance of adhering to FOISA policies;
- be able to accurately assist and respond to FOISA enquiries;
- correctly identify the right person when enquiries require a response/action from another person; and
- fully understand the implications of keeping information unnecessarily secret.
You will also need to consider records management and other FOISA topics.
By the end of the training programme senior staff/employees will additionally:
- be able to give effective leadership by demonstrating a long term commitment to openness in public service;
- fully understand the objectives of the principles of FOISA to initiate the necessary change in culture; and
- correctly assess the implications and associated risks of FOISA for their organisation.
By the end of the training programme practitioners will:
- be able to skilfully operate FOISA procedures;
- have an excellent working knowledge of FOISA legislation;
- have an excellent working knowledge of current FOISA best practice; and
- have an overall knowledge of FOISA trends and decisions in other organisations.
These objectives may be a little ambitious, for example you may consider a broad understanding of the issues to be more achievable for all staff.
PREPARATION OF TRAINING PLAN
Once you have decided which groups need to be trained and to what level, you should review the training options available to you. You may look for some external support but in many cases the training will be carried out in-house. You should review the available material and decide which material should be used and how it should be delivered to each group. If you can personalise the material to your group by including examples drawn from your experience that can be very helpful but take care not to alter substantive content without taking proper advice. It is important to ensure that the members of the group to be trained understand why they are receiving the training and what the aim of the training is. If you are delivering face to face training you may find it useful to distribute material prior to the training so people have an opportunity to read through the material in advance of attending. Material is available in this pack or a useful overview has been prepared by the Scottish Executive which could be used for this purpose.
In many cases a blended learning solution may be appropriate, that is a mixture of face to face training and remote learning using material drawn from the open learning workbook.
You should also ensure that you keep thorough records of all those who are due to attend and who actually attend.
DELIVERING TRAINING
It is important to plan how training will be delivered and to allow a realistic timescale. This is particularly the case if you are asking staff to attend training sessions. They will need sufficient notice to put dates in their diaries and some choice of dates to allow for other commitments. If you are asking staff to work through material from the workbook you may wish to give them guidance on how many sections should be completed in appropriate timescales and possibly to submit some of the evaluation materials to you during the course of their learning.
It is likely that you will give some face to face training and in order to do so you will need to prepare your presentation which may involve customising some of the training materials. It is important to plan any training session. Remember to introduce the topic, ensure that the group understands the objectives of the session, set up relationships with the group, communicate the material effectively by engaging their interest and conclude and consolidate the session.
You will need to consider the size of the training groups and the different styles of presentation or approach which may be appropriate for different groups. You may choose a classroom layout or a boardroom layout depending on the nature of the interaction you wish to encourage and the size of the group. If you are going to carry out a number of similar sessions it can be useful to have a "dry run" with a group who you know will be helpful and take their feedback before finalising your materials. Some general advice to trainers and suggestions for activities are included later in the pack.
Remember all the practical arrangements like breaks for drinks and refreshments.
EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TRAINING
You can evaluate training in various ways: by the reactions of those attending, by an assessment of what they have learned, by whether their behaviour changes or by other organisational outcomes for example whether particular areas of work are conducted more efficiently.
It is unlikely that organisations will adopt formal evaluation processes for FOISA such as written tests but evaluation should not be ignored even if it is conducted on a relatively informal basis.
Feedback forms can be used to evaluate reactions and a precedent feedback form is included with this pack. You can take more informal feedback using discussion in focus groups to explore how they responded to the material. In order to evaluate the learning element the material includes case studies and sets of questions which can be used to check understanding.
CONSOLIDATE, UPDATE AND REFRESH
Learning can be an on-going process. If your training has been successful you will have sparked an interest in the topic among those who attended. You can reinforce or consolidate this interest by providing further material, for example by including FOISA material on the organisation's intranet or in its regular newsletter.
ATTENDANCE AT TRAINING
Different organisations will have different approaches to internal training but it is strongly recommended that attendance at FOISA training should be compulsory and if individuals do not attend the training for which they are booked, or complete the workbook in the timescales requested, there should be discussions with them to encourage them to complete the training in an appropriate manner. The attendance of senior managers is also important. If managers do not take the training seriously it is difficult to expect staff to do so.
GUIDE TO POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS
The trainers' pack includes three separate PowerPoint presentations. There are two short presentations which cover a general introduction to and outline of FOISA and a strategic view of FOISA. The long PowerPoint is a full set of slides covering the material covered in the open learning workbook. Obviously there are some similarities between the different sets of slides but they are each slanted at achieving particular ends.
SHORT PRESENTATIONS
These PowerPoint presentations approach the topic from different perspectives but are both intended to give those attending the sessions an overview of the FOISA. They are intended to be suitable for those who are coming relatively new to the legislation. All of the presentations are equally suitable for use with large groups or small groups.
Whenever you are organising a group to attend a training presentation you should consider whether to provide attendees with some introductory material. It is advisable to do so, although inevitably some attendees will not have read the papers. The introductory leaflet which is a part of this suite of materials (included in the appendix to the pack) is quite a short document and is available to be customised. However, you may wish to send something even briefer with joining instructions and for that reason a very short introductory note on the FOISA has been included with the pack. It can be found on page [ ]. It is always helpful if those attending training can be encouraged to read something beforehand.
At the training session it is suggested that attendees could be given these slides in handout format three to a page to enable them to take notes. You may also wish to consider handing out further information to reinforce the learning. This could take the form of the introductory leaflet if that has not already been used or the overview to the Act produced by the Scottish Executive and available from the website. It is recommended that those who have attended training should be encouraged to read the additional material within 24 hours of having attended the training to help reinforce their learning. The handout can then also be used as a simple reference tool.
TIMING
The short presentations are each designed to last no more than one hour. This would allow for between 30 to 40 minutes of presentation with an opportunity for those attending to ask questions and relate the issues to their particular department.
CONTENT OF PRESENTATIONS
The PowerPoint slides in each case provide the pointers for the relevant area and a notes page has been included with the short presentations giving a summary of information that could be provided with each slide. Clearly this can be added to or shortened depending on the requirements of the authority. It is always helpful to supplement information with topical examples or an explanation of how the authority itself is implementing the requirements of the Act.
LONG PRESENTATION
The full presentation follows the sequence of the modules in the workbook and the module number is included on each slide. This is the presentation on which the Train the Trainer sessions has been built. You are only likely to use the entire set if you are going to carry out a full day's training but you may find it useful to use some of the slides to amplify the short presentations in appropriate cases. As the long presentation follows the sequence and content of the open learning workbook, very detailed notes pages have not been included however some supplementary notes, have been included.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE FOR THOSE ATTENDING TRAINING
Introduction to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the "FOISA") will come into force fully in January 2005.
The Act employs two mechanisms for placing information in the public domain:
- It establishes a right for any person making a request to a Scottish public authority to be informed in writing whether or not the authority holds the information sought and, if so, to have access to that information, subject to exemptions; and
- It imposes on Scottish public authorities a requirement to publish information that they hold. Public authorities are required to set up and maintain publication schemes, which will set out the categories of information which they undertake to publish.
The duty to have a publication scheme will be rolled out across the public sector in Scotland in 2004 and the individual right of access will be introduced for all public authorities in January 2005.
The public will have a right of access to any recorded information, however it is held. There is no formal application procedure, although requests for information have to be in writing and give the name of the applicant and an address to which the information can be sent. There are cost limits on the extent of information that can be requested in any one request. If the authority cannot find the information requested the applicant has to provide assistance to locate it. Requests must be dealt with in 20 working days.
The authority may charge fees for providing information but these are only a small proportion of the cost of finding information.
There are a number of exemptions from the obligation to provide information; for example where the information has been provided in confidence or it would prejudice prosecution proceedings were it to be disclosed. In some cases, even where an exemption applies, the authority must still disclose if the public interest in disclosure is not outweighed by the public interest in withholding access to the information.
The Act will be enforced by the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can serve notices requiring authorities to disclose information if he considers that the facts merit it.
Publication schemes are a very important part of the Act and we have started looking at the information we already publish and what more we might publish in the future.
Freedom of information will have an impact on every part of our authority. Consequently, we are carrying out training sessions to introduce the Act.
You have been booked to attend a training sessions at [ insert place] on [ insert date] between [ insert time].
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