GRADschool facilitator training

The GRADschool facilitator training is a one day workshop designed for anyone who is planning to be a facilitator on a GRADschool programme run by a UK higher education institution.  The workshop provides an opportunity to:

• understand the GRADschool design and process
• appreciate the role and skills of a GRADschool facilitator
• understand typical situations you might encounter and how to deal with them
• practise facilitation

Workshop programme

The workshop is run by a team of experienced GRADschool facilitators and covers the following areas:

• what is a GRADschool?
• the purpose, structure and delivery method of a GRADschool
• the roles and responsibilities of the course manager, course administrator, course director and the facilitator team
• review of an example GRADschool programme
• provides a step by step guide as to what to do prior to the course, what to do on the course, and what to do after the course, including critical points on a GRADschool and how to deal with them
• provides participants with a GRADschool facilitator toolkit, which is a resource to help support with the group facilitation
• provide an opportunity to practice facilitation techniques

Overview of the GRADschool programme

GRADschools are experiential learning courses designed to develop the transferable skills of postgraduate researchers. Many researchers who attend the course have a transformational experience, empowered to take charge of their own learning and career.

Courses are three to four days in length, residential or non-residential and designed to enable postgraduate researchers to:

• develop their personal effectiveness
• identify ways to communicate effectively
• make more informed choices about their future and own and manage the next step of their careers.