I think we should postpone recruitment also until Jan 21…look after the ones that come back, let org stabilise and reset Sqn practices for better success long term
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I had a similar feeling, although i was only thinking of 1 or two months. (assuming a September restart)
I was think maybe after October half term.
We usually do a Sept and Feb intake, so thinking of Feb 21 for new recruits. Better to focus on current cadets for a few months, especially if we’re limited on the number of people allowed in the building
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If we return in September it’ll take a while to get our heads straight, so imagine earliest recruitment will be early 2021 now for us.
We’ll try to avoid classification too, however as cadets have little engagement with it over vp, and being based in a school with limited facilities, it’ll mean I need to get inventive with the training programme.
We’ll do as little as possible, but there will inevitably be some academic content - notably those bits that accompany things like leadership courses.
Our contingent is planning to do recruitment in January (assuming a September return to school). Normally we recruit in October.
Assuming a September restart we are looking at an October intake probably the week after half term. We had an intake due to start in March lots of whom are still contacting us, we can’t put them off another 5 months.
Recruiting… might not be possible or wise anyway.
Building numbers allowed and extra social distancing required.
Might have to wait until spring.
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We may have to wait longer, depending on what happens in schools. If they are still doing part-time into next year (2021), are we really in a position to meet like nothing happened?
I’m expecting another bout of restrictions / measures when we enter the next flu period, which could extend to next March, so that’s effectively Easter.
What do you think??? 
It’s difficult. You don’t see all of the topic heading typos I have to correct around here!
Likewise.
If they search for and obtain the knowledge, is that a bad thing ?
/
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It does when they are a 14 year old Master Cadet and are completely out of sync with their peers.
And they have knowledge and no understanding
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Obtaining the answer ≠ obtaining the knowledge
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In order to acquire understanding you need someone able to explain it to give you the knowledge and give it context. This is what teachers do and by and large those cadet staff who take it seriously did this with the classifications.
As soon as we moved to an effectively unsupported, online open book exam system, the need for understanding went out of the window. Not that you need to understand a lot, but it helped if you did.
There were and still are squadrons like us who insist on preparing cadets for exams. There were and are a lot who decided not to bother, taking the easy route of plonking cadets in front of a computer every so often, to get them through without the hassle. Your cadets would see this and it just become a race to the bottom.
Staff in the ATC caused the devaluing of the classification system by bemoaning the paper system and being duped by HQAC into thinking the ‘computer’ with the questions on it was a creaking wreck and couldn’t be ‘updated’, oh the irony that the majority of the questions on the new system are exactly the same as seen on the old exams. IMO HQAC told us a bare-faced lie. There are Master Cadets who have no idea about the subjects they’ve done. If you equate Master Cadet to the old Staff P1, the latter would be able to pick up and instruct to a decent level the subjects they’d done. I’m not convinced many Master Cadets can or want to. There will be a few sqns it seems with a number of cadets who’ve got to master cadet over the last couple of months and will be expecting more of a role when we get back.
This demise of the ‘master cadet’ is many fold. The exam system isn’t really geared to understanding, just ticking a box after looking up the answer and too many see instructing syllabus subjects as unimportant as their staff and the ATC don’t recognise their value, due to the need to instruct specific things, as opposed to esoteric subjects, like leadership. I don’t think we can compare some higher learning open book exam processes and say well they do it for that. Given a specific time period for a ‘formal’ exam, I doubt you could look up and write a decent answer for one question, let alone several. Could you do say an open book GCSE or A Level in 1½ hours? Maybe our exams should be time limited to say a minute a question and resit the whole thing no less than say 3 months after you failed. Not sure many exam systems in the world allow you to just redo the bits you got wrong.
One area I see in particular is map and compass. We run planning days for DofE expeds with several sqns and we have had to almost go back to “this is a map”, “this is a compass”, “this how you obtain a GR” and do small walks, as some cadets despite being Leading and higher, have little clue of the basics of map reading. My cadets must get bored in Basic and Leading classes where we cover map reading, compass and route planning, to a decent depth, which includes planning 2 milers across fields or bearing work up the park on parade nights.
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There were and are a lot who don’t have the knowledge or support to teach many of the subjects themselves.
If you insist on writing tirades could you at least paragraph them so when I’m having to read through it for trolling it makes it easier?
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