The Defence Academy of the UK has awarded Sterling Training a contract to run specialist trainer training programmes, with the purpose of advancing instructional capability throughout defence training.
Operating as the Ministry of Defence’s primary institution for professional military education and training for the UK Armed Forces, the Defence Academy of the UK is joining forces with Sterling Training to improve the quality of trainer delivery within its programmes, and in particular to elevate the experience provided to delegates arriving from overseas.
The appointment reflects a shift taking place across both the defence and commercial sectors, where organisations are increasingly looking to develop robust internal training capability in order to meet rising demand for flexible instruction, itself a consequence of working with an ever more diverse and multicultural body of personnel.
Founded by Emma Lacey, who serves as Managing Director, Sterling Training is headquartered in Southampton and delivers training solutions that can be mobilised quickly, through a combination of in-person and online programmes, for clients across the UK and internationally, spanning both defence and business training fields.
“To now be appointed by the Defence Academy of the UK is a real validation of everything we’ve built, and reflects our commitment to excellence, innovation and long-term impact in defence education and training,” said Emma.
The organisation was originally established to deliver rapidly deployable training solutions for military organisations.
“I started Sterling Training in 2015 to meet the demand for high-quality, rapidly deployable training solutions for international military organisations. Beginning in Oman, we quickly earned a reputation for delivering outstanding bespoke training, tailored to diverse operational requirements.
“TILT (Train the International Learner and Trainee) was born from that experience – designed to ensure our own trainers could deliver in any cultural context – but what happened next surprised even us. It was identified as addressing a critical gap within the British Army’s own framework, adopted as a solution and has since been delivered to more than 2,000 serving personnel,” added Emma.
The TILT programme was developed in 2016 to support effective, consistent and adaptable training delivery across varied learning environments and a wide range of learner profiles. It is embedded within Sterling Training’s trainer development approach and used across defence-related training contexts.
The appointment comes as defence and commercial organisations increasingly focus on strengthening internal training capability in response to changing learning environments, including the growth of hybrid and digital delivery models.
Within defence training environments, there is a continued shift towards developing internal instructional capability as organisations modernise training systems and adapt to evolving workforce requirements.
“Synthetic training environments come with inherent dangers”, says Emma, “if we simply bolt technology onto poor trainer practice, we simply have more expensive, less effective training.”
In addition to its international defence work, Sterling Training has held a continuous contract with the British Army since 2016, including the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, with 6–10 TILT courses delivered annually. Further details on trainer training courses for UK Forces personnel available online.
