After hearing rumours, this appeared on SharePoint…
New Comma Syllabus, 4 levels of badges, Blue, Bronze, Silver and Gold.
Still not released as a course yet, still has some work before being put out for general use…Advise from the HQAC Radio team is to continue teaching the current syllabus and when the new courses are released the assessors will slot students in at appropriate levels,
I’ve heard that some cadets are already being awarded the badges, some at RIAT apparently and maybe the Drill Camp.
Will they be re-doing the first class content as well? as discussed elsewhere on here it’s very dated.
Some cadets at RIAT got the opportunity to do the new blue level of the comms syllabus, don’t think anyone’s actually been awarded a badge yet. I know they’re also doing the training at the D&C camp but whether that’s for everyone or just a select few again I don’t know.
The RIAT lot were the first group to do the new syllabus, and they were given a presentation on the new syllabus, including the cyber safety video.
According to the team at RIAT that ran the course, they will be awarded the badges in due course.
No Badges/ Certificates available. yet … No assesors yet in post, cant get a badge that’s not available…
As per my comment in the other thread, this ran at the D&C camp and badges were issued.
Whether it was run correctly is debatable. It seems like someone was keen to push this out before everything was in place for it again. Sound familiar?
What I saw being done does not deserve a badge.
I think this is worrying.
It screams of yet another ATC empire and hoops to jump through.
The current communicator syllabus can be ran on Squadron with a competent instructor.
Our Squadron has a range of expertise from electricians to radio ops and they have been authorised by the Wing radio officer to teach and sign off various sections.
It works and it’s a challenging award.
The attachment from Sharepoint will expect assessors to attend courses and form parts of training teams?!
Some members of staff cannot always commit that much time due to work and family commitments but under the current syllabus can still provide an excellent cadet experience and a sought after award.
As someone has rightly said - this seems like a rushed, half baked idea.
I’ll add this to the ever growing list of empires.
Jeff
[quote=“incubus” post=26065]
What I saw being done does not deserve a badge.[/quote]
from what i heard at RIAT the course ran there was the equivalent of a “provisional UHF/VHF Operator certificate” with a bit extra (this new “cyber video”)
ie rather than get a piece of paper, Cadets get a badge to wear…
I don’t agree with the ‘empires’ stuff at all.
The new syllabus just breaks down the current badge elements and issues more badges at earlier stages. The old Comms badge is by far the hardest badge to actually attain as a cadet. (Speaking as one who had one, it was a right time consumer. This is reflected in the amount of badges actually issued in the corps.
The badge issues at the Drill Camp is probably the new blue badge. The old comms badge will be equivalent to the new Silver badge.
Only the Gold standard worries me. It sounds a bit like a mini QAIC/JL. which could limit the availability.
Will there be a gold badge too? Maybe HQAC can change the shape to look like an arrow… 
The younger members out there probably won’t understand what I’m getting at. lol
The Silver badge is not an equivalent to the current comms badge in my opinion.
The reason being that the current award can be delivered on Squadron with no external instructors required.
Looking at the PowerPoint promulgated by my Wing Radio Officer, the Silver award will be delivered at Wing / Region.
If authority to run this element on squadron can be delegated by Wing / Region comms officers then it wouldn’t be so bad - a question I’ve posed to the CoC.
I completely agree with your comments on gold too Baldrick, which was the point I was trying to make - perhaps ‘empire builders’ was too strong but the principle is the same.
As for timescales we run a Comms project which works well and gains a badge within three months - because of this time it can also be used as a DoE skill.
I know one Squadron within my wing, run a course over a weekend and the cadet can obtain the badge too - so I don’t think personally the current course is too arduous.
That being said, I do see the benefit of this syllabus to Squadrons who have limited kit and perhaps don’t have staff with the interest or expertise.
A final bugbear is that this course seems e-content heavy, it’s taken over 2 years to get an operator exam on ultilearn and as far as I’m aware it’s still not there.
If this is rushed in - we’ll be in the same boat.
One of my lads tells me that he received a blue comms badge at D&C Camp.
I see the staged badges as a good thing. I hope to god that they link the blue badge to First Class. At present it’s impossible to deliver First Class without having subject matter experts in the squadron and without spending 6 months of pointless, boring, dull, dull study on 1930s-era radio techniques.
[quote=“GOM” post=26088]One of my lads tells me that he received a blue comms badge at D&C Camp.
I see the staged badges as a good thing. I hope to god that they link the blue badge to First Class. At present it’s impossible to deliver First Class without having subject matter experts in the squadron and without spending 6 months of pointless, boring, dull, dull study on 1930s-era radio techniques.[/quote]
If your from the Wing I think your from…then there are discussions due to discuss provision of radio in the wing
[quote=“thetopcat69” post=26100][quote=“GOM” post=26088]One of my lads tells me that he received a blue comms badge at D&C Camp.
I see the staged badges as a good thing. I hope to god that they link the blue badge to First Class. At present it’s impossible to deliver First Class without having subject matter experts in the squadron and without spending 6 months of pointless, boring, dull, dull study on 1930s-era radio techniques.[/quote]
If your from the Wing I think your from…then there are discussions due to discuss provision of radio in the wing[/quote]
Indeed, but I remain to be convinced that it will cease to be dull, boring, pointless and a complete waste of everyone’s time.
Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the new syllabus for delivery?
Nope, still hasn’t been released and the Official release date has been put back by HQAC until at least March 16 and that is just the Blue badge. Course has to be assessed by and independent Assessor approved by the Wing Radio Officer.
But they already issued badges? What is there left to do?
Some regions have already run staff assesses or courses!
Anyone heard anything on the higher levels yet? We have started running Blue Courses and I see the Gold Cyber Camp has just been advertised but not seen anything on Bronze or Silver yet.