Trainer quality check
It is up to each training organiser to check the quality of the trainers and evaluate if they fit the particular training job. SALTO can not test the quality of all trainers, we can only guarantee the minimum criteria. However, TOY integrates several ways how you can check if the trainer is right for your activity:
- Check if the refrences are validated (approved) by the reference persons.
- Contact the reference persons to find out more information about the trainer.
- Compare different TOY-profiles, their CVs or other additional downloads.
- Have a look at previous education and work experiences.
- Conduct an exploratory telephone interview with the trainer him- or herself.
. - Inform the TOY administrator toy@salto-youth.net if any profile details are not correct (anymore).
Call for trainers
SALTO can send a call for trainers to all trainers in TOY at once. This allows you to get applications from trainers who are available and interested to work on your training activity.
If you want to send a call for trainers to TOY, send the following information to the TOY Administrator (toy@salto-youth.net):
- Information on the training course in question (aims, dates, venue, target group, background)
- A description of the trainer profile that you are looking for (requested skills, language, availability, tasks)
- Details about the working conditions and remuneration (time investment, prep-meetings, trainer fee, trainer team, reimbursement of costs,) and we will forward it.
SALTO does not undertake negotiations on prices or availability with trainers for third parties. It is up to the trainer and the training organiser to determine their cooperation arrangements as they think is best.
- However, get inspired by Trainer fees
Trainer fees
SALTO does not prescribe how much trainer fees should be. There are many different training courses in European youth work and many different trainers. Some organisations work completely on a voluntary basis with their own trainers pool. Other structures have the means to pay trainers who are running training courses for a living.
However, SALTO developed a trainer fee system which recognises the hard work done by the trainer but also reduces the need for recurring negotiations with trainers. Besides paying for working days, SALTO also provides a lump sum contribution to the trainer's preparation, evaluation and reporting duties, based on the working days.
Some principles to consider…
- The number of trainers in a training team depends on the needs stemming from the training, the size of the group and the training methods. The size of the team should be negotiated amongst the different actors (e.g. trainers and NGOs or NAs). A reasonable number of trainers should not have influence on the daily fee per trainer. However if extraordinary requests are made to the trainer (e.g. being alone with a very large group of participants or being coordinator of a big team), this could have an influence on the remuneration.
- In the ideal case, the fee per trainer should be equal in a team. It is impossible (and indesirable) to assess the different skills and experiences of the trainers and to compare them quantitatively (translating them into figures or fees). Also the levels of professional and /or personal commitment towards the training course and the people involved cannot be objectively measured. The best solution (for SALTO) is to pay all trainers equal fees, which also reduces hierarchy and competition.
- Every training course needs to be prepared, evaluated and documented, which to a large extent happens outside the course days. These additional days of work should be recognised and paid. Existing course concepts (which are an adapted repetition of an existing course) need less preparation and less development of evaluation and follow up tools.
- These principles are developed for international training courses with an international team and a group of participants from different countries. It goes without saying that fees for training in a local context (national, regional) will not be at the level suggested here (even though the same principles may apply) and the fees depend very much on this local context and habits. In some countries fees might be higher (Scandinavia?), in other countries (Eastern Europe?) lower or some countries or organisations might have a tradition of volunteering.
- These guidelines are used for SALTO TCs and NA network TCs. They do not intend to set norms but could be used as inspiration for other providers of international (European) training courses in the youth field.
Translated into concrete terms:
- SALTO counts training course days per day (and not per hour), still acknowledging that working days at the training courses start early in the morning and end with meetings late at night.
- The fee for travel days is a grey zone and could be used for flexible negotiations. In principle those days are considered work time (welcoming participants, last team preparations, team evaluation, etc), so they could be counted as full work days as well. However if budgets are tight it can be agreed otherwise.
- Important to realise is, that the trainer fees are 'gross income' (bruto), from which the trainers still have to pay taxes, health insurance, social security, training materials, etc.
- For the development of a new training course concept SALTO estimates rougly that for every day of training, there is more or less a day's time of preparation and follow up (including reporting, evaluation,...). If the course concept already exist and is merely adapted and executed, then SALTO considers that the preparation and follow up takes about half a day per training day.
- These are estimations which in reality surely are sometimes surpassed and sometimes seem too much. We try to find the middle road. Therefore SALTO considers the preparation, documentation and follow-up payment to be a 'lump sum' covering all preparation (in meetings or at home), documentation (reporting, handouts,...) and follow-up (evaluation, setting up email lists,...) carried out outside the course, as the days needed for this may vary.
You are a trainer?
If you are an experienced international youth work trainer and you fit the minimum criteria, then you are welcome to create your trainer profile in TOY.
- Log in to the TOY startpage with your SALTO username & password.
(if you don't have a username yet, simply register and a password will be sent to your email - you can change this password anytime via mySALTO). - Edit your trainer profile: give information about your training skills, work experience and educational background.
- Add minimum 3 references for international youth (work) training activities on which you worked as a full-time trainer.
- Request the validation of your training references from the reference persons of your choice (e.g. organiser, colleague trainer, etc.)
- Submit your TOY profile for activation to the TOY administrator and we will swich you online after a standard quality check.
It is only after the activation by the TOY admin that your TOY profile will show up in trainer searches. In case of problems or questions, feel free to ask the TOY administrator toy@salto-youth.net.
Origins of TOY
The idea for the TOY database came from the problem offinding available trainers for international youth training courses with the right mix of competencies. The Council of Europe and the CoE-EU Youth Partnership developed a list of experienced trainers, but this database could not be consulted online - only via personal contact. Also the list needed frequent updating (address changes, etc).
Hence the idea to make such a database accessible via the internet. Trainers can register themselves and update their own TOY profile. New trainers can also easily join via the online interface, which avoids TOY being a closed club. And most of all, training organisers have easy searchable access to experienced trainers working in the youth field.
TOY complaints
What if a trainer fails to deliver? SALTO cannot be responsible for the quality of the trainers listed in TOY even though minimum criteria will be checked before we activate a trainer's TOY profile.
It is up to the contracting training organiser to check the trainer's competences by looking through their CVs, talking to them directly and by contacting their reference persons.
However, we welcome all feedback regarding trainers via toy@salto-youth.net and trainers can be desactivated after serious complaints.
- Also read: Trainer quality check
TOY and privacy
TOY is a public database for finding trainers. Therefore it is vital to be able to contact trainers that are listed in TOY and their reference persons.
To avoid spam and improper use of the contact details of trainers, only logged in SALTO users can access contact information of trainers.
Reference persons can be contacted via an online mailing form, but they are free to add additional contact information.
SALTO endeavours to comply with privacy legislation in force. Information of this site can only be used for its intended purpose: looking for a trainer. Listed trainers can change their TOY details at any time or delete their profile from TOY.
SALTO preserves the right to de-activate trainers in case of complaints, abuse or incorrect information in the TOY profile.
- TOY administrator contacts: toy@salto-youth.net
Link to TOY
You can easily link to individual TOY profiles, via the URL in the address bar of your browser (you don't need all the parameters after html). For example http://www.salto-youth.net/tools/toy/find-a-trainer/21.html. All activated trainers however also can be reached via a personalised link based on their first and last name. For examplehttp://trainers.salto-youth.net/TonyGeudens/.
Should you want to link to a list of trainers who fulfill certain search criteria, you simply execute this trainer search in question and right click on the results page to get its page properties. This most likely looks something like this http://www.salto-youth.net/find-a-trainer/?first=&last=&gender=any&nationality=any&country=any&other=&lowdate=2002
&highdate=1902&kw=change+development&extra=&searchBy=profile
Not so elegant but it does give you the powerfull possibility to link directly to the group of trainers you want.
In HTML put this URL in the following format in your code and you have 'your own' list of trainers on your site:
<a href="http://your_link_here/" target="_new">your_link_text_here</a>
