Going beyond Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation Model: The role of workplace factors in distance learning transfer

Abstract

This article emanates from a longitudinal study of the impact of a distance education programme for teacher training on graduates' job performance, in which the authors built on the findings of a previous pilot study. After using Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation Model in a previous study, one of the authors found there to be a strong relationship between graduates' completion of the programme and their performance at school. However, the model does not probe factors that impede on transfer of learning. Quite a number of the graduate participants indicated that they were faced with this problem. In order to further probe this phenomenon, the authors fused Baldwin's Transfer of Training Model with the second level of Kirkpatrick's model by using a mixed-methods enquiry. It became clear that the organizational climate of schools has a strong influence on the transfer of learning in the workplace. Suggestions are presented on how educators and school managers can work together effectively.