Trainer Professional Education and Preparation?

In other words, should trainers have to audit a class they intend to teach, audit a class every so often and recertify on products or other measures to their certifications and professional relevancy? This will be the theme of the next few blogs as I believe it is germane to quality training! As a trainer, I need to keep my skill-set fresh, learn new technologies and remain relevant with existing products. This can be a daunting task as we need to balance our revenue stream with auditing and testing. In some professions (and with some certifications in the IT world) you have to “earn” a certain number of Professional Education Points or credits every year or three years to maintain your certification/credentials. This is something that should be instituted in the IT world. Just because you passed the test for a product doesn’t mean you remember the product after a year or two or four……if you work with the product, then there shouldn’t be an issue recertifying right? I say all this knowing it could come back to haunt me when I have to recertify on a product every three years just so I can continue teaching the product or maintain my certification on the product. Maybe if you are recertifying on a product you only pay half of the regular cost for the test (unless you fail the test, then it is full-cost)? There are some certifications that you have to “earn” credits to retain the certification by attending conferences, publishing work or even teaching the material – if you don’t earn enough credits then you have to take the certification test again (and this is one you definitely do NOT want to take a second time!). This concept of product relevancy and certifications was introduced by Microsoft with their new certifications (has been around for other certification vendors) – the certifications expire when the life cycle for the product reaches its’ expiry date. This is contrast with certification vendors where their certifications are good “forever”. Though now they are trying to encourage those who earned their certification with them a number of years ago to take the new exams – which I think is appropriate. Ours is a field that changes very, very quickly. Don’t get too comfortable with a product as its replacement is probably in development even as the current one is being released. So why should a trainer have to recertify or earn professional credits on products or in general? Simple – maintain relevancy on a product and in the field. Notice I didn’t say you HAD to re-take a test as the only option – authoring material, attending conferences, as well as teaching and/or presenting material all should count as professional credits.