Problem / need / context
At a SOLAS-approved apprenticeship training centre in Dublin, a team of electrical apprenticeship trainers began raising concerns about a communication pattern they were observing across multiple cohorts. The issue was not a lack of technical knowledge on the part of learners — standards on the craft skills assessments remained broadly consistent — but rather a growing disconnect between trainers and apprentices during off-the-job training weeks. Many apprentices arrived at the training centre having spent several months on site with their employer, and a significant proportion found it difficult to re-engage with the structured learning environment. Attendance was technically compliant, but engagement was low: learners sat back, gave minimal responses, and rarely asked questions even when they were unclear on material relevant to their trade exams.
Trainers identified several contributing factors. Some apprentices were returning from site contexts where communication was direct, fast-paced, and task-focused, and they found the transition back to a classroom register difficult. Others — particularly younger apprentices in their first or second year — lacked confidence in speaking up in front of peers, fearing they would appear less capable than colleagues who had more site experience. A smaller group, including some apprentices from non-Irish backgrounds, reported feeling that their questions were not always understood or fully addressed, and had begun to disengage rather than risk further confusion. Trainers also reflected honestly that the communication style in some sessions had become over-reliant on instruction-giving, with limited space for apprentice voice, and that this was contributing to the problem.
The situation pointed to a need to strengthen Motivational and Relational Communication — the ability to build trust, maintain engagement, and communicate clearly and respectfully with learners in vocational contexts. In an apprenticeship setting, where learners split their time between employer sites and off-the-job training, the trainer’s ability to reconnect with apprentices, acknowledge their workplace experience, and create a psychologically safe environment for learning is particularly important. Poor rapport during off-the-job phases can undermine motivation, reduce the quality of preparation for trade exams, and increase the likelihood of early withdrawal from the programme.
Intervention
The training centre manager, working with three experienced craft trainers and a SOLAS quality assurance adviser, designed a two-part response. The first part focused on changing how trainers opened and structured the early sessions of each off-the-job training block. The second introduced a regular low-stakes check-in mechanism that gave apprentices a structured and private channel to raise questions or concerns without having to do so in front of the group.
For the opening sessions, trainers committed to beginning each training block with a short “site debrief” activity lasting approximately fifteen to twenty minutes. Rather than launching immediately into module content, the trainer opened with an open question about what apprentices had been working on since they were last in the centre. Apprentices were invited — not required — to share a job they had worked on, something they had seen done differently from how they had been taught, or a situation that had puzzled them. The trainer’s role during this time was explicitly to listen and respond with curiosity rather than correction, acknowledging the site experience apprentices brought into the room and connecting it to the session content where possible. Trainers prepared for these conversations in advance, familiarising themselves with typical site contexts for each cohort so they could respond meaningfully.
The second element was a simple written check-in card, distributed at the end of each session. Apprentices were asked to note anonymously: one thing from the session that made sense, one thing they were still unsure about, and one question they had not felt comfortable asking out loud. Cards were collected by the trainer, reviewed overnight, and the following morning’s session began with the trainer addressing the themes that had come up — without identifying individual apprentices — framing them as questions the group had raised collectively. Over the course of the training block, trainers also used the card responses to adjust their pacing and identify topics that needed to be revisited. A small number of apprentices who consistently flagged the same concern were offered a brief one-to-one conversation at break time, initiated by the trainer in a relaxed and non-formal way.
Outcomes
The changes took effect quickly. Within the first training block in which the site debrief was introduced, trainers reported a noticeable shift in the atmosphere of opening sessions. Apprentices who had previously sat in silence began contributing to the discussion, often with detailed and confident accounts of what they had observed or attempted on site. Several trainers noted that the debrief conversations surfaced misconceptions and gaps in understanding that would not have emerged through direct questioning, allowing them to address these in a timely and non-stigmatising way. The act of the trainer listening attentively and responding to what apprentices shared — rather than moving straight to prepared content — appeared to reset the relational dynamic in the room, signalling to apprentices that their workplace experience was valued and that the training space was one in which their voice mattered.
The check-in cards proved equally effective. Trainers found that the volume and quality of questions captured on the cards far exceeded what they had been receiving through direct questioning in sessions. Recurring themes identified through the cards allowed trainers to restructure the sequencing of content for subsequent blocks, addressing topics that apprentices found genuinely difficult rather than those assumed to be difficult. Apprentices responded positively to having their anonymous questions read back to the group and addressed without judgement. A number of apprentices later commented in end-of-year evaluations that they had felt “actually listened to” during the training blocks for the first time, which had made them more willing to engage and ask for help.
Trade exam pass rates in the cohort that completed the full revised programme were higher than in the two preceding years, which trainers attributed in part to the improved quality of engagement during off-the-job sessions and the earlier identification and addressing of knowledge gaps. From a trainer development perspective, the process of designing and implementing the changes prompted a productive team conversation about communication style in craft training more broadly — one that the training centre manager described as overdue. The site debrief and check-in card approach has since been adopted as standard practice across all apprenticeship programmes delivered at the centre.