Train the Trainer training in Lugano · canton of TessinTrain-the-trainer in the canton of Ticino: how should refreshers be spaced for knowledge used only at certain times?
In Ticino, the combination of banking, fashion, trading and Italian-speaking family SMEs, alongside exchanges with Lombardy and cross-border workers, provides a relevant context for considering internal training schedules. For SHR’s train-the-trainer programme, this raises a precise question: when should refreshers be scheduled for content that will only be needed later?
What the literature establishes: distribute rather than concentrate
Nicholas J. Cepeda, Harold Pashler, Edward Vul, John T. Wixted and Doug Rohrer (2006, Psychological Bulletin) synthesised research on distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. Their analysis shows that spreading learning opportunities over time can improve retention compared with concentrated practice. This suggests that a training design should not be judged solely by what participants can recall at the end of a session.
A second study: the interval depends on the retention horizon
Nicholas J. Cepeda, Edward Vul, Doug Rohrer, John T. Wixted and Harold Pashler (2008, Psychological Science) examined both the interval between learning sessions and the delay before the final assessment. In their study, the spacing favourable to retention varied with that horizon: a longer retention delay generally called for a longer interval between learning sessions. Refresher schedules should therefore be designed with the point at which knowledge must remain available in mind.
The premature conclusion: more refreshers would be enough
These findings mean neither that every additional refresher is useful nor that the longest interval is always preferable. Spacing is not simply sending the same material several times: the trainer needs to specify what participants will do on each occasion. Rereading a reference sheet, answering without materials and discussing a case are not equivalent activities. (our executive and employee training programmes)
The limits: remembering content is not professional mastery
The cited studies concern memory tasks and do not directly measure the quality of banking, commercial or managerial decisions. They cannot establish an optimal schedule specific to businesses in Ticino. In practice, a change in collections, commercial terms or internal rules also requires checking that the content being revisited is still valid.
A practical check in Lugano
An exercise in the train-the-trainer programme could use the hypothetical case of an Italian-speaking family SME in fashion trading in Lugano, preparing its teams for a campaign with partners in Lombardy. For stable content, compare two schedules with the same total training time, one concentrated and the other distributed, keeping activities and materials identical. One month after the final session, administer a common recall assessment without reference materials and measure the proportion of correct answers using a predetermined scoring guide. Also record initial knowledge and actual participation: this local comparison could inform a scheduling decision without, on its own, establishing causation. To go further: explore the Train the Trainer training in Lugano in the canton of Ticino, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: Train the Trainer in Lugano
- train the trainer
- Lugano
- research
- training lugano