While the above question might appear to answer itself, there is more to a trainer/assessor’s job in the community media sector than the title implies. For those who are new to the field of training and assessment, this article explains what you might find yourself doing if you decide to become a fully qualified trainer and assessor.

Training and Assessment

In community broadcasting most of us understand what training is but assessment is probably a lesser known concept. While we do assess informally in television and radio stations- for example, we assess whether someone is ready to go live to air- formal assessment involves a number of steps ti ensure it is fair and reliable. These steps include advising students about what is required of them during assessment and their rights of appeal if they do not agree with the decision. If the assessment is through directly observing the student assessors are required to gather evidence that the learner can do everything required. Perhaps the most important aspect of formal assessments in nationally-recognised training is that they are based on benchmarks which are set by the industry and contain enormous detail about the jobs we do everyday in stations. For example, when you are assessing whether someone is good enough to panel and present on air, the formal assessment requires the student to also demonstrate that they can set up and pack up on time, that they leave the studio clean and that they are able to use every piece of equipment in the studio.

Identifying further training needs

Trainer/assessors play a vital role in helping stations determine their training needs either through talking with managers or board members or assisting with training needs surveys. It is important that stations keep in mind that not all of their problems are training needs and sometimes training is not the only solution.

Promoting Nationally-Recognised Training in the Sector

The community broadcasting sector has played such a vital role in giving people their start in the media industry it is important that we continue to develop and grow as one of the country’s main media training providers. The move to nationally-recognise training allows the sector to compete with other training providers and to create formal pathways to employment in the media and related industries for many of the sector’s volunteers. Nationally-recognised training can seem overly bureaucratic to newcomers so it is important that trainer/assessors support stations in their move to formal training.