Educate

The last section of this guide discussed building enthusiasm and understanding in your team. When you are designing your initiative, you should also consider whether staff training will help your team to support and deliver your plans. For example, if you are designing an initiative to welcome First Nations people, you may ask your team to undertake cultural awareness training before implementing activities that involve the public.

Staff training can also be an initiative on its own: education can provide staff with the confidence and capacity to create a safe, inclusive environment.

Consider the format of training

Staff training can be delivered face-to-face, online or using a mixture of both, with all methods of delivery having their pros and cons. Additionally, training can be created in house, purchased, or it may be freely available.

Online training may be more cost-efficient, particularly if there are suitable free or low-cost packages available. Online training packages are also accessible from any location, at any time, and can allow employees to work at their own pace. These advantages can be important in the aquatics, recreation and leisure sectors – online training can be an easy way to reach a large number of staff who work across multiple locations, and in shifts. As the recreation industry has high staff turnover, online training may also be the best way to ensure new staff can access training when they join your organisation.

Alternatively, face-to-face provides an opportunity to discuss, collaborate and practice role-play, with the guidance of the facilitator. A group setting also has the potential to build team morale and understanding.

You can also consider a hybrid model. The online delivery of ‘real time’ training (e.g. a group session using a video conferencing platform) may be an attractive compromise for some training activities.

Determine training needs

Avoid assuming the training needs of staff, as your assumptions may not match the needs expressed by staff. You can gather valuable evidence by surveying staff in relation to their needs, and can then tailor your training approach.  When staff are asked about their training needs, and then receive support to address these needs, they respond more positively to training than when they are ‘told’ what they need to learn.

Evaluate the impact of training

When you have decided what training you would like to organise, you should think about how you are going to assess its impact. Building an evaluation plan will help you to define what you want to achieve, and to keep track of your progress. Consider using tools like surveys and assessments to understand what knowledge and skills are gained, and whether the program has been a cost and time-efficient way of meeting your objectives.

Training resources

This section provides suggestions for some training resources that you may like to incorporate into your plans.

Our list focuses on training related to the aquatics and recreation sector, or sport sector, and is not intended to cover all potentially underrepresented groups, or to provide a comprehensive list of all research sources.

Training designed for the sport context needs to be carefully considered for appropriateness for the aquatic and recreation (leisure) sector. The contexts are related, but not identical.

General inclusion training

People with disability

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities

First Nations people

LGBTIQA+ communities

Mental health

Collaborate