Staff training
What training will staff need?
Staff who will be running sibling groups may need training in the following areas:
- Your organization's policies such as Child Protection, Equal Opportunities, Risk Assessment, Health and Safety
- The needs of siblings
- Basic groupwork (e.g. Tuckman's theory of closed groups – Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning)
- Differences between a sibling group and a normal playscheme (Time Limited, Closed Membership, Not known to each other in advance, Something important in common, Structured programme, Purpose, Arrival procedure)
- Running activities for children
- Child development
- How to talk to children
- Learning styles for different ages
- Running discussion groups for children
- Basic counseling, and when to refer on to someone more skilled
The training needs to be matched to the experience of the staff. Some staff will come from a playwork background, and have skills in running fun activities for groups of children, others will come from a counseling/social work/therapy type of background, so will have skills in the more therapeutic aspects of the group. Your aim is to have all the staff learning to participate in both the fun and discussion aspects of the group.
Sibs provides training for sibling group leader. See Sibs training.
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