| Motivation and active participation: training for personal growth | | Print | |
| Teresa La Marca | 19.04.2010 | Practice - Articles [en] | ||||||
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Can training represent a path towards personal development in a continually changing society? The participants in the “Progress in Training” are convinced that it can. This national congress lasted for two days and hosted meetings with training participants, trainers and representatives of associations, universities, training institutions and public bodies.
“Training as an opportunity for growth, a chance to improve oneself and the others”. This is the principal suggestion emerging from the congress “Progress in Training: Objectives and Instruments for Training in Step with the Times”, held in Naples last March. How much real progress is being made in adult training? Are training innovations related to the way of perceiving life at this particular historical moment? TRAINING AS GROWTH AND CHANGE “According to our approach, the term ‘progress in training’ refers to a process of inclusion, personal growth and autonomy”, says Luigi Baldascini, head of the I.P.R., research centre and school offering training in psychotherapy and helping relationships. In other words, the expert continues, “training can really constitute a process of change if it makes us grow as a person and gives us dignity in our relationships with others; in this sense, it may really have an influence on our quality of life. For this to happen, however, motivation is required on the part of the trainees”. “I have a lot of experience in training”, says Teresa, a participant in the counselling training course. She continues: “I think I understand that what makes the difference is how much we commit ourselves as active participants in the training process. We cannot just offer book knowledge and methodologies borrowed from other people; we are the instruments of our own change as training participants”. “In fact”, says Giuseppe, a university student, “the more formal training courses, such as those attended at university, don’t give us a chance to question ourselves as persons, they often restrict themselves to transferring content to us in contexts in which we are not always able to exchange and compare ideas and experiences with teachers and colleagues”. “Training cannot restrict itself to transferring technical content, although it must support adults in the processes of orientation to the life changes and to the activation of more adequate personal and group resources”, confirms Raffaele Calabrò, Senator and teacher at the “Seconda Università”of Naples. “To train means, in fact, education in the emotions and responsibilities in contexts and all ages”, states Maria Luisa Campobasso, trainer at the psychotherapy and counselling school. At the same time, Antonio Iavazzo, Art Therapy expert, believes that “art and theatre may encourage the processes of change stimulated by training”. CRISIS IN THE TRAINING AGENCIES AND VIRTUAL “TRAINERS” “Formal training is often divorced from the real needs of society”, Calabrò again underlines. In fact, what emerged from the congress is that there is a crisis among the more traditional training agencies such as schools and universities and a dissemination of the new learning technologies. However, our various spokespersons remark, the latter, unless integrated with training in presence and with group training, may lead to dependency and isolation. “In Italy, this often happens with TV, which often becomes the principle training agency for adults and children”, remarks Nico De Vincentiis, journalist and writer. TRAINING IN STEP WITH THE NEW NEEDS OF SOCIETY The fulcrum of the two days’ work was the search for training methods more adapted to the new needs of society, which are leading to the emergence of new training requirements. “Training helps us navigate through complexity and helps us stimulate people’s talents and resources”, says Fernando Dell’Agli, trainer and member of the Italian Trainer’s Association (Associazione Italiana Formatori, AIF). New professional figures are thus emerging who may accompany and stimulate the processes of change. One of these is that of counsellor, facilitator of the learning and growth processes. “A decisive figure for the training processes pointing to the change is the tutor/mentor with competence in counselling, who stimulates autonomy, creativity and the capacity of collaboration between the training participants”, states Laura Minutillo, trainer, psychotherapist and counsellor. “In fact”, underlines Felice Pannone, trainer and psychotherapist, “the group constitutes the strength of the training processes since it generates openness, sharing and intimacy, which provides the climate required to enable real change”. “The presence of the teacher, the tutor of the group and the individual are, therefore, the essential elements for generating valid and effective training processes for change”, states Maurizio Andolfi, professor at University in Rome ”La Sapienza”, who concludes by commenting that “like all processes of change, training cannot be rushed or forced and presupposes the active participation of the beneficiaries”. |
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