Consider the following scenarios:

A high school teacher and campus leader of nine years has been a training manager for the last three years and sees an overlap in the competencies needed for both environments and is asking himself, “Do I have 12 years of experience in L&D or only the three since I moved into corporate?”

A kindergarten teacher of four years is now a training and development specialist and is struggling to make sense of her educational experience in business language.

A hiring manager is interviewing for an L&D manager role and notices a candidate who has 15 years of experience in education with only a handful of years in corporate L&D and is wondering what experience this candidate has beyond their limited exposure in the corporate environment.

What do these scenarios have in common?

They are each asking the same question: What experience in education demonstrates capabilities relevant to the corporate L&D environment, and how can that be communicated in business-oriented language?

Qualified experience in L&D includes any professional role where an individual designed or facilitated adult learning, led initiatives that improved organizational and workforce capabilities, or partnered with leaders and teams to drive employee performance.

The goal of translating educational experience is not simply to relabel it with corporate buzzwords and terminology, but to identify the capabilities that show qualified experience as an L&D professional no matter the professional environment.

The table below lists six core L&D capabilities along with examples of educational experience and its corresponding business-oriented language for each capability.

L&D professionals can use the following four-step framework for recognizing personal educational experiences and translating them into language that aligns with today’s corporate training profession.

Step 1. Recognize the experience: What did you do? What did you design, lead or improve on your campus or across the district, and who was involved?

Step 2. Identify the relevant L&D capability: Which of the six L&D capabilities does this experience demonstrate?

Step 3. Evidence of impact: What changed as a result? What results show the scope of impact? Ideally this would include evidence of improved knowledge and changed behavior. However, reach of scope is a valid measurement if business impact on key performance indicators (KPIs) is unknown.

Step 4. Translate to business language: How can this experience be described in business-oriented language?

The purpose in using this capability and translation framework is not to imply that educational and corporate environments are identical. It’s simply to help recognize the work that’s already been done and be able to describe it accurately in a business setting.

Let’s look at three hypothetical examples to move this framework from theoretical to practical.

Example 1: Campus Improvement Initiative

A teacher worked with their campus principal and area superintendent to develop a two-year strategy plan to increase Algebra 1 state standardized test scores. Each month this teacher targeted specific Algebra 1 skills gaps and collected student data month over month from the other teachers on the team.

The individual then facilitated a monthly meeting with their campus principal, area superintendent and other campus and district personnel reporting on the data and progress toward the plan’s goals. At the end of the two years, the campus Algebra 1 standardized test scores improved by 32%.

Example 2: Designing and Facilitating Professional Development

A teacher designed and facilitated four different professional development sessions for campus leaders and staff over the course of four years on two different campuses. Sessions included 50-100 adults for a length of 30-60 minutes each. Session topics included special education documentation compliance and instructional best practices. Two sessions were designed and delivered alone, and the other two sessions were in partnership with another teacher for data collection and presentation purposes.

Example 3: Coaching and Mentoring Teachers

An individual mentored a first-year teacher utilizing the school district mentorship program, meeting weekly with this teacher over the course of an entire school year. They were responsible for district documentation of the program and progress toward targeted skills during the employee’s first year of teaching.

This individual also supervised three student teachers over three years, mentoring one each year by observing their teaching and coaching them on professional skills during the final year of their teacher preparation programs.

When considering your own skills and experience, you may not be able to identify a relevant experience from all six L&D capabilities, and that’s OK. The purpose of this framework is to ensure your previous experience is neither overstated nor overlooked and leverages yourself as an L&D professional across education and corporate environments rather than a “former teacher” who now works in “corporate L&D.”

Your L&D career did not begin when you left education. You simply began a journey of translating your experience in a way that reflects the training and development capabilities you demonstrated during your time in education.

Translating that experience helps you recognize and communicate the value of the work you’ve already done. Those capabilities bring unique value to your current role and continue to shape you as an L&D professional throughout your career.