I really don’t want to derail this thread again, as there’s some good positivity coming out here. However, comments like this really make me question whether people know what volunteering is…
You’re saying you’re a volunteer on one hand, yet the other you’re saying you’ve earned almost £4000 in VA. If that was in any other voluntary organisation, people would be asking some serious questions.
And I get the whole ‘but we do loads that we don’t claim for’. But back when I was doing lots of stuff, I was running 2 climbing sessions a week at about 5 hours each, plus two parade nights at about 4 hours each, plus full weekend events almost every weekend. I never got a penny, other than some lower than required fuel claims.
Let’s not get into a semi-competitive ‘who does more for less money’ conversation. The VA arrangements, while they seem likely to change in time, are well established and everyone volunteers their time with a full understanding of what they get from it, whether that’s personal satisfaction, some financial allowance or other motivation.
I thought the call last night was a really positive step in communications and engagement. Well done to the whole comms team and the HQAC leadership for taking part. Presenting to well over 1000 CFAVs isn’t an easy or forgiving audience but it’s really important that we understand why these changes are happening and the longer term strategy.
Equally important are opportunities for us to feed back into the strategy, because without the CFAVs support, nothing happens. There did seem to be a focus on giving cadets ‘competitive advantage’ which I found an odd phrase, but I think is probably just a different way of describing all the positive benefits that we know cadets get. I just don’t think some Level 2 BTECs are that great a benefit. The soft skills - communication, team work, leadership - are much more critical to their futures.
IIRC, one of the comments from the Commandant last night was about the use of VA being out of balance across CFAVs, with some claiming 40+ days and others claiming next to nothing despite undertaking additional volunteering.
Less stuff happening in 2024, hopefully more 2025 onward. More BTECS, space first in the summer. We have no money, civil servants being cut. Reduction in VA likely in some form. Still have no idea what to do with O18 cadets.
Keen to work out the cost per flight here, because, at my local BGA club that would buy you 60,000 trial flights. That’s 2 flights per year for every cadet.
2 flights per year for every cadet is a massive increase in the 6 flights our squadron had 3 years ago!
P.S. it would probably be more than 2 flights per year for every cadet if the VA saved by not having to pay VGS staff was ploughed back into more trial flights!
i didn’t dial in, but from what i gather, comments on here and various WhatsApp groups, there appears nothing that would justify a "well that is the straw that broke the camels back"style comment to encourage someone on the edge to submit resignation papers.
That isn’t to say it was a “good news” lecture, but it would seem it isn’t all doom and gloom either.
Can’t have been easy to manage the numbers, or filter 250+ questions posed. that is 1 in every 4 Squadrons on average asking a question - my Stats brain wants to ask what was the variety within the bank of 250…was it 100 on O18s, 100 on ACTO 035 and 50 on VA, i very much doubt it was 250 unique questions
For cadets who are less academic or struggling at school it could make a difference (both in numbers of qualifications and confidence in passing qualifications), but for the majority of cadets it’s just a nice added bonus. We just need to be careful not to get the balance wrong
The session opened with some honest details around the financial pressures the organisation faces from above and what that equates to, it was really positive to see this transparency.
It also provided more detail as to why there was a need to pause some national activity for the coming activity year, naturally there are many upset by the decisions to pause some activity, particularly where the activity they partake in is impacted, however the rationale behind the need to do it was pretty strong and they shared some of the progress made in being able to address some of the challenges such as accomodation.
Whilst it wasn’t said last night, we should remember that national activity only benefits a relatively small number of cadets across the organisation and whilst that activity is definitely positive, we must remember (as Commandant pointed out), the absolute majority of what is delivered to cadets is achieved at a much more local level and the work going in to redefine the BTEC offer and PTS subjects etc is really important to support local delivery of good quality training.
The reference to ‘competetive advantage’ and ‘levelling up’ aligns with the research that was released in relation to the value cadet forces organisations have on society, we have a real opportunity to deliver some academic value alongside all of the other life skills, confidence, resilience etc that we develop in our young people and for some, those BTECs make the difference between a place on the course they want or not.
I see what I see. Just as a reminder, I’ve been in the corps for 30 years, run 2 ATC units in addition to what I do now to which I never got any VA for 10 years. As many on here, I’ll end up doing far more than I can claim and not bat an eye.
I know how hard ES work as I’ve been there and done that but when you put it into perspective, an AEF pilot that is there for 10 hours makes c.£50 after tax… This isn’t about who does this or that and who does more, it’s about what the impact will be on the cadet activities.
You give what you can give and, if I were the Commandant, I’d be happy with that.
tbf when i have attended AEF as “escorting staff” this is exactly what i did - tea, biscuits and watch whatever DVD the Cadets have decided to put on (typically Top Gun)
It did for me - many moons ago my A2’s were not as stellar as expected - the BTEC’s I had through ATC gave me the UCAS points I needed to attend university.
Statistically, I would not be the only one to have benefitted in that way in the intervening years.
Surely for these we’d need BTEC L3’s? Apologies if this is being implemented - I didn’t listen to the call. But Level 2s don’t carry any UCAS points so they’re only really good for slotting into the personal statement… (In a UCAS sense anyway)
You’re absolutely right, it will make a huge difference to some, but i wonder how many. From experience, I’m guessing 5-10%? Pushing 100% of cadets through BTECs because it will benefit 5-10% isn’t necessarily the right balance when that time could be spent on other benefits. The BTECs should be optional, not tied into classifications that everyone is expected to complete.
I was slightly annoyed that TK said “this year’s budget is based on last year”. So did no one have the foresight to maybe increase it, given we knew activity was down because of covid and returning?
Feels like we’re partly in a mess of our own making with that, notwithstanding the cuts imposed from above.
My other major gripe was the effluent waffle given about ACTO35 and the provision of flights. They sounded like they wanted us to be grateful that this year there were 5000 AEF sorties, 7000 GICs and c.1000 at the muster. For an organisation of 44000 cadets.
But don’t worry, they have ambitious plans that in 2 years we might flying 20000 each! This despite only have 52 gliders, an acknowledged lack of pilots and airframe issues constantly affecting the tutor.
Oh but good news they have submitted paperwork to extend the viking to 2035 i think.
My understanding is that the BTECs will indeed be optional, aimed at years 10/11 IIRC.
The money that was used to fund them for all (LIBOR) is no longer available in any case.
The new format will require marking (organised centrally) but should allow cadets to achieve merit/distinction grades.
This will remove the anomaly where cadets with higher grades at GCSE were advised by schools to omit the BTEC from FE/HE applications as the pass only level lowered grade averages.
