The theories and practices of facilitator educators: Conclusions from a naturalistic inquiry

The study described in this paper explored the theories and practices facilitator educators use to help novice facilitators to develop their skills, knowledge, and experience. Data were collected in 2005 and 2006 through semi-structured interviews with facilitator educators, participant observation of facilitation training courses, and qualitative surveys of facilitator training course graduates. The conclusions for the six primary research questions used in the study are presented and the dimensions of facilitator education model was shown to be effective in describing the important elements of a facilitation training program. Two signposts that will demonstrate a growing maturity of the facilitation field in the future will be a reduced presence of stand-alone technical facilitator education and more careful consideration of values within the facilitator education process.