Train the Trainer
Two routes to running the programme yourself, defined roles, and an observer checklist for all three sessions
For anyone preparing to run the programme, and for organisations building a small team of facilitators.
The aim is not identical delivery. It is facilitators who understand why each block is there, so they make good decisions when the room doesn’t follow the plan.
Overview
There are two routes. Use the first if someone in your organisation has already run the programme. Use the second if you are the first. Both take about two cohorts: one to learn it alongside someone, one to lead it while being observed. With one cohort a term, that is about six months.
Whichever route you take, be observed on Session 2 or Session 3, not only Session 1. Session 1 is the most scripted. Sessions 2 and 3 depend on what participants bring, and that is where facilitation is tested.
Roles
- Facilitator: leads the session, keeps time, and owns the asks and the read-backs.
- Co-facilitator: leads agreed blocks, runs the tools and fallbacks, watches the clock, and joins pairs during activities. Swap roles between sessions. Needed above about 8 participants: one facilitator can get round 4–8 people during activities, not more.
- Observer: sits outside the action, uses the checklist below, and leads the debrief afterwards. An observer does not need to have run the programme, but should have read the session blueprint.
Who can facilitate
No teaching qualification is needed. You need to:
- Have taken part in all three sessions, or run a full dry run of them (first-adopter route)
- Have read the session blueprints, Technical Brief and Theory Crib Sheet
- Be able to explain each theory in your own words, including what to say when someone pushes back
- Be comfortable keeping a small group on time
- Be willing to be observed and to hear feedback
Clinical credibility with the group helps. Prior teaching experience helps. Neither is essential.
Route 1: with an experienced facilitator
- Take part in all three sessions as a participant. Do the asks. Fill in a canvas for your own session.
- Read the blueprints. For each block, be able to say why it happens at that point and what you’d do if it didn’t land.
- Co-facilitate a full cohort. Lead at least one block in each session, including the activity blocks in Sessions 2 and 3.
- Lead the next cohort, with the experienced facilitator observing at least one of Session 2 or Session 3 using the checklist.
- Decide readiness together (see below), then run cohorts on your own.
Route 2: the first adopter
If nobody near you has run it yet, you build the experience yourself.
- Find a peer. Another educator who will co-deliver and observe. Two first adopters together is better than one alone.
- Read and plan. Work through the blueprints and fill in a canvas for one of your own sessions, as a participant would.
- Dry-run each session with two or three colleagues before the cohort. Run it at full speed against a timer. Test every tool and its fallback in the real room.
- Co-deliver the first cohort with your peer. Split the blocks and swap roles between sessions.
- Record yourself and self-review. With participants’ agreement and within local policy, record your own voice for one session (audio is enough). Watch or listen back with the checklist. Delete the recording when you have reviewed it.
- Be observed. Ask a colleague to observe Session 2 or Session 3 with the checklist, even if they have not run the programme.
- Lead the second cohort, with your peer observing at least one session. Then decide readiness.
Observer checklist
Mark each item ✓ seen, ~ partly, ✗ not seen, or N/A. Add a short note on what you actually saw. Notes matter more than marks.
Every session
| Item | Mark | What I saw |
|---|---|---|
| Room set before people arrived; nothing on screen | ||
| Low-tech fallback ready for every tool (printed pack, whiteboard pens, cards) | ||
| Theory came in bursts of 10 minutes or less, just before it was used | ||
| Each block kept close to its timing; facilitator cut show-and-tell, not the ask, when behind | ||
| Instructions were clear before an activity started | ||
| During activities, facilitator asked questions rather than giving answers | ||
| Sharing was voluntary; nobody was put on the spot | ||
| Quieter voices were invited in; no one person dominated | ||
| Session finished on time |
Opening (Sessions 2 and 3)
| Item | Mark | What I saw |
|---|---|---|
| Last week’s ask was read back at the start | ||
| ”Not done” was met with curiosity (“what got in the way?”), not blame | ||
| Participants without their item were given a way in (pack, a session they’d like to teach) |
The ask and the close
| Item | Mark | What I saw |
|---|---|---|
| Session 1 or 2: the ask was given in full, with its canonical wording | ||
| Session 1 or 2: each participant wrote the ask on a card and photographed it | ||
| Session 3: each participant named a person who will hold them to their canvas at 30 days, and the support they need from them | ||
| Session 3: the reveal (the programme on its own canvas) had its full time |
Session-specific
| Item | Mark | What I saw |
|---|---|---|
| S1: the bad slide ran for 30 seconds, then the screen went black before “what do you remember?” | ||
| S1: colour-vision test framed as voluntary; nobody asked to share results | ||
| S2: Kahoot came before retrieval and spacing were named | ||
| S2: participants designed for their session’s real setting, using at least one named strategy | ||
| S3: outcomes rewritten with observable verbs, each with matching evidence | ||
| S3: alignment check against Session 1 slides and Session 2 activity |
Overall
| Item | Mark | What I saw |
|---|---|---|
| Facilitator modelled what the session teaches (active, low-load, aligned) | ||
| Adaptations were made for a reason the facilitator could explain |
Deciding readiness
There is no pass mark. Readiness is a judgement made by the facilitator and the observer together, after the debrief. A facilitator is ready to run cohorts on their own when you can both say yes to these:
- The asks and read-backs happen every time, in full.
- Sessions finish on time without cutting the ask, the follow-through loop or the reveal.
- Theory stays short and arrives just before it’s used.
- Fallbacks are ready and the facilitator switches to them calmly.
- The facilitator can name their own development points before the observer does.
If any answer is “not yet”, agree two or three specific actions and a date for another observed session.
The debrief. Ask the facilitator what went well and what they’d change, first. Then say what you saw and ask about their intention: “I noticed you skipped the pitches. What were you weighing up?” Agree actions that are specific: when, where, what.
Keeping quality over time
- Observe each facilitator at least once a year, on Session 2 or 3.
- Review each cohort’s evaluation data with another facilitator after the 90-day check.
- Meet as facilitators at least twice a year to share adaptations and what got in the way.