Introduction
The aim of this report is to offer advice and guidance in selecting a consultant in the discipline of training. You may be the headteacher or foremost of a faculty or university, an officer in a neighborhood training authority (LEA) or college district, or the director of a non-public agency wishing to adopt work within the instructional sector. This article focuses particularly on facts and conversation technology (ICT), however the underlying ideas also apply more generally.
Using a consultant
Consultants, as a minimum in the UK, have a terrible recognition as a species, and but they're in greater call for than ever. Why? Why would any employer decide on to use a representative instead of hiring someone? There are several motives for this.
Short-time period work
Some work is, via its very nature, short-time period. If, for example, you're having a new pc suite installed, you would possibly need a few advice from an outside character who has no axe to grind - and whom you could blame while half the personnel complain about the layout, the gadget and so on!
Expertise
In a consultant vicinity, consisting of ICT, it is pretty probably that the faculty would not have the expertise in-house to do what it needs to do inside a specific time scale.
Cost
Although experts can be high priced, it is (or need to be) a exceptionally quick-time period fee. And remember that you do not have all of the on-charges, like pension contributions. These can upload up to twenty% of the salary expenses. Also, if the representative is going on holiday or falls ill, you don't incur any more price.
Choosing a consultant
When choosing a educational consultancy or adviser to help your college in ICT, whether or not for Hands-On Support, education, strategic improvement or every other aspect of ICT, it is critical to get the right individual or organisation for the process.
To assist you do so, here is a listing of questions you can desire to invite before hiring someone. You are not likely to find any character or company who can answer "sure" to all of those questions, so you will need to convey your very own expert judgement to undergo in your selection.
1. Is the consultancy independently accredited via a first-rate warranty scheme, such as by way of NaaceMark or comparable scheme? If not, is it looking for accreditation? Note that a solution of "No" in either case isn't always a awful issue. In my personal revel in, the paintings itself is so time-consuming that it's pretty tough to go through the hoops required to prove that you could do what you're doing! That's why the next few questions are crucial too.
2. Is the representative a member of a relevant company, along with (inside the UK) Naace or the Society for Education Consultants? These forms of organisation provide a sure diploma of first-rate guarantee in the sense that they won't receive simply anyone as members, despite the fact that they will give no guarantees approximately the quality of work undertaken by means of their members. Also, they frequently provide useful records approximately the sector in which the representative works, which in concept at least maintains the representative up to date on current trends inside the field.
3. Ask for information of comparable work undertaken by means of the consultancy, and for information of glad customers - however undergo in mind that a reluctance to supply such information can be due to issues of confidentiality.
Four. Ask for references, testimonials, or information of evaluations, ie evidence of best guarantee of the experts' work.
Five. You also can ask how the consultant receives maximum of its work. Word of mouth is a superb signal.
6. Ask for the CVs of the consultants who may be operating for your organisation if making a decision to sign up this consultancy.
7. Is the representative qualified to adopt the paintings? This can be an educational qualification, accreditation as an inspector or training provider in one or greater schemes, or qualification by way of enjoy.
Eight. Has the representative been on relevant training inside the closing year?
9. Ensure that the consultancy is of the same opinion no longer to subcontract the work without earlier dialogue with you, the client.
10. If you are thinking about the consultant for staff training, ask if you may attend one among their training sessions in every other faculty.
Eleven. Ask for other evidence to help you decide if the consultancy is the exceptional for this unique work in your college, which includes a consumer list (however note factor approximately confidentiality above), examples of video work, published work or a internet site.
Using a representative
Once you have determined on a specific consultant, have an settlement drawn up that ensures, for example, that you will be stored knowledgeable of development. For instance, it could now not be unreasonable to invite for a precis each 2 weeks, in case you are an LEA and the consultant is working to your schools.
Once you've got hired a consultant, ensure you get the exceptional value for money. This way a few or even all of the following, relying at the precise instances:
Have a clear set of ambitions and goals which you are each agreed upon. This can be developed in dialogue with the representative earlier than signing at the dotted line, but there ought to be a clear set of expectancies by the time the consultant begins paintings.
Make positive that the consultant has the equipment had to do the task correctly. This ought to suggest get right of entry to to the computer network, table area, crucial touch facts and so forth.
Ensure which you have all of the contact statistics you need too: phone and fax numbers, a cell phone quantity too, perhaps, with the ability for leaving messages, and an email cope with.
Put in region something is needed to allow the consultant to "hit the ground running". If, for instance, you spend the first morning discussing what the representative should do, you are throwing cash down the drain: all that must have been agreed in advance - unless, of course, there's a need for a unexpected trade in plan, although even in the ones conditions there must have been a contingency plan (a "Plan B") in region.