Towards a model of professional competence of workplace trainers

Abstract

Workplace trainers, as the persons who plan and implement training for employees, are an essential factor for the success of training. However, the professional competence trainers might need to conduct effective training has not yet been systematically studied. Our contribution aims at giving an overview of existing studies on trainers’ professional competence and providing directions for future research. We conducted a literature review of empirical studies investigating aspects of trainers’ professional competence. Our review shows that there are numerous studies that are either investigating the professional competence of trainers in general or focusing on certain aspects of professional competence, such as designing a training. However, the studies must be regarded with respect to their contextual, methodological and conceptual heterogeneity. We argue for the need for a holistic model of the professional competence of trainers in order to be able to systematically analyse the relationship between different aspects of professional competence, training quality, and training outcomes. Existing models of the professional competence of school teachers, such as the model by Baumert and Kunter (2013), can provide a framework for building such a model.