Basic flooring installation program instructors from various community and technical colleges gathered at the Certified Flooring Installers (CFI) headquarters in Dalton, Georgia, for the first-ever Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF) instructor training, taking place June 9 to 13. The event, led by Dave Garden, CFI Master II Trainer, focused on combining flooring installation education across all flooring categories and tool instruction with teaching techniques. 

“When we first came up with the idea of working with the colleges and even from the Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) pilot programs that we did, we realized quickly if we're going to mass produce this program in all these technical colleges, we've got to arm the instructors with enough information to be able to effectively teach this,” said Kaye Whitener, executive director, FCEF. 

According to Whitener, it has taken two years to put the training together, which includes a comprehensive agenda including topics like adult learning principles and teaching methodologies, teaching techniques for all flooring categories, subfloor prep and adhesive selection, instructor expectations, pattern matching and seaming, and installation of all flooring types. Following each day's sessions, the program instructors gathered around a module and practiced the installation techniques for a specific flooring category and critiqued each other's teaching methods, providing valuable feedback.

On day two, the 17 program instructors and CFI trainers got the opportunity to tour Engineered Floors, where they learned what goes into the carpet manufacturing process. 

Each day, a vendor partner—Traxx, Ardex, Valinge, and QEP/Roberts—sponsored a Lunch & Learn where the program instructors spent time with a representative learning about the various tools, products, click systems and product application techniques they are using in their schools. 

The final day included instructor assessments and the final teaching presentations. Graduates will receive their CFI Fl41 Flooring Installation Technician license, demonstrating proficiency in flooring installation teaching methods per CFI curriculum. 

In addition to the license, participants received a textbook of the basic installation program curriculum which includes information for all of the associations who helped develop the curriculum—CFI, the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) and the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF). They also received current editions of the TCNA Handbook for Ceramic, Glass, and Stone Tile Installation, NTCA Reference Manual: Problem Characteristics: Cause, Cure, Prevention, and the ANSI American National Standard Specifications for the Installation of Ceramic Tile, as well as a sampling of the various flooring products to share with their students.

The program instructors who participated run carpentry or shop programs at their respective community college or technical school which includes flooring installation. Prior to this event, there has been no flooring installation training support available to them. Whitener sees this becoming, at minimum, an annual event. 

Phoenix Childress, instructor, building construction technology, Tennessee College of Applied Technology Memphis, is a graduate from the school who returned to teach after several years on her own, building cabinets, tables and chairs. “One thing that I didn't know was the different technique in stretching carpet and using the power stretcher and also how to lay out for tile. The thing that shocked me was that you can actually stretch carpet. That was an eye-opener for me.” 

Terika Hughes, director of career training, Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis also expressed her surprise with carpet installation, “Something that I learned with carpet is when it's ordered, how many feet and how you measure out the room and how to make a seam and how to make sure when you place that seam in the room you have to make sure that you look at where the windows are and to make sure that it flows so that it is not seen by the naked eye.” 

Michael Roberts, instructor and NCCER carpentry chair at Albany Technical College in Albany, Georgia, has previously attended training at the CFI headquarters. “What surprised me here is the detail that goes into doing flooring. You would think it’s just lay the carpet in the room, but it’s actually a science to flooring and all the facets of flooring. We learned how they make the carpet also…then installing it by knowing how it’s made and the chemicals used, you get a better insight on the installation process.” 

Garden sees the teaching event as just the beginning.

 “What this does is tell us what kind of support we need to give them, and what we're seeing right now is they're working hard and we're all having fun learning, but we need to make sure that they're successful," he said. "We need to figure out a way to give them short videos, different PowerPoints, whatever it needs to be to help make their life easier, even if it's lesson plans.”

Whitener said instructors are asking for the next class: “The hunger is there. Their job and their career is to change people's lives, and so they know that the more knowledge that they gather and pass along to their class, the better chance that student has to go to work and be successful. The end goal is that we introduce a new young generation to the flooring industry.”