ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the critical factors influencing the effectiveness of in-service training within Social Services Departments and provides an illustration of how an evaluation was undertaken to determine the impact of an in-service training programme in needs assessment for care managers. Specifically, the chapter aims to:
Examine the importance of undertaking training evaluation within social services and identify what evaluation research tells us about the impact of training within these work environments.
Present an approach to training evaluation that might be used as basis for undertaking other training evaluations within social services
Present and discuss findings from the evaluation of training that point to a range of problems in securing the actual transfer of training back on the job and identifying particular problems that are often associated with this work environment
Consider other alternatives for staff development that might overcome some of the problems to training transfer encountered in this evaluation.
