Euro funded project for equality in the Fire Service: delegates at the evaluating Diversity Training Seminar at Westwood Park, Colchester, debated a range of approaches to evaluating diversity training

JULY'S DIVERSITY TRAINING seminar is part of a programme of events designed to stimulate discussion on a range of approaches relating to the evaluation of diversity training within the Fire and Rescue Service which will dovetail into ODPM guidelines on diversity (see pg 26).

Dr Wilkinson, Consultant Researcher with APU's FireWorks Project, has a great deal of experience in uniformed services training having spent many years in the Australian Navy and has had a long career in the diversity training field.

The delegates, diversity and equality professionals, came from London, Kent, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Beds and Luton and Avon fire and rescue services. Dr Wilkinson first asked the delegates to outline their objectives for attending the seminar, so that it would be possible to ensure these objectives were met by the end of the seminar.

They included:

* Networking with other FRS diversity professionals

* Gaining more knowledge about evaluation

* To benchmark their fire and rescue service against other FRSs

* To identify specific diversity training needs

* To use evaluation for development.

And then he outlined his objectives:

* To collect examples of approaches to evaluation

* To present findings of his literature review

* To pilot the evaluation toolkit.

The delegates were split into four groups and asked to 'Mind Map' how diversity training was presently evaluated within their organisations and these included:

* Staff surveys

* Focus groups

* Business excellence model

* Training needs analysis * Three-day workshops.

The 'Kirkpatrick Model' was outlined.

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