The traits of a good teacher trainer are the following: having previous teaching experience; attentive to new developments in the ELT profession; being accessible; being a good presenter; being able to provide correct, constructive feedback; designing training sessions and being aware of various currents of methodologies.
I believe nobody can or should pursue a teacher training job without having taught earlier. Empirical, practical experience is crucial for the person that aims at training teachers. By previous experience, I mean that the teacher trainer has to have taught at least three back-to-back years on a daily basis facing challenging situations created by slow, uncooperative students and at the same time receiving positive feedback from most of the learners. By being attentive to developments, I mean that all of us in the TEFL industry need to keep track of what is written and said in journals such as MET, ELT Pro, Ih Journal or Teacher Trainer, newly-published books and in conferences. The notion of accessibility comes down to the quality of interaction between colleagues. No matter how high a status the trainer has at a language academy, they should definitely not act as people living in an ivory tower and just giving prescriptive directives. The importance of being a good presenter has also got to be pointed at since good in-service workshops can be executed only by a person who is able to present the material comprehensibly. Constructive feedback comes after lesson observations. A trainer should never be somebody similar to the teacher in the infamous Pink Floyd ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ clip. Reprimanding has a counter-effective power and leads to no success. The capability of designing training sessions eases the job of the trainer, who can perform better if they know they create coherent stages in the workshops. Finally, it goes without saying that a trainer ought to be aware of methodologies that have prevailed in the past 80 years in our profession at different times (direct method, audiolingualism, natural method, silent way, suggestopedia, CLL, etc.) in order to see the whole picture or rather the mosaic of the TEFL world.
All the above mentioned traits apply to that of a DoS with the following extensions: being empathetic with their teachers; being able to handle problematic students; being capable of creating a well-performing team out of individual teachers and being able to hold interviews for teacher candidates. Empathy is a cornerstone of a managerial job. All people make mistakes; these mistakes have to be pointed at with great tact and constructivism so that teachers can profit from them. As for handling problematic situations, it has to be kept in mind that the species of problematic and complaining students will always exist. The DoS has to develop such communicative skills that will help them handle the situations when they face complaints. As far as creating a team is concerned, this can be achieved through team building trainings. Well-written books are at the disposal of the Dos to execute one-day or two-day team building trainings. Finally, interviews are always a crucial step on the way of recruiting a good team. An experienced DoS has a good eye to selecting the talented potential new teachers and does a a thorough selection process of at least two interviews and a training. It is inevitable to point out that a good DoS also has great PR abilities as it is vital to maximize the number of students in a competitive market. There is not always an agreement among TEFL people as to what kind of qualifications the DoS and the trainer need to have. I believe both the trainer and the DoS have to have an M.A. in TESOL or the DELTA; however I have seen directors of studies working without either.
