Perhaps a really good idea, would be to take a 1 year pause in 2021 on JL and QAIC for cadet training.
Use all the staff on QAIC to provide specialist staff training.
Use the staff on JL to conduct FCI training and assessments. Just imagine how many more FCIs we could get across the Corps if this were done.
The cost saving of not running the 2 for 1 year could be funneled into staff training and recovery.
After all these are specialist high end residential and so the impact of its loss to cadets is minimal, but the long term gain could be huge.
Iāve been a long term advocate that the organisation would be a thousand times better off having an 12/18 month focus on staff training rather than cadet.
Iām not saying cadet training should stopā¦ It should just at sqn level
I think thatās a pretty good idea! Especially to get more FCIs. Given that JL is already multiple weekends anyway, they could make that into multiple weekends of delivering the FCI course.
You could even still have the ātest phaseā as it were but for all the newly qualified FCIs to go and have a proper exercise, blank/pyro the works; delivered by the the specialist team that run JL.
We need a more long-term solution than just focussing on staff training at the expense of cadet training for a year.
What happens after that? The courses go back to being cadet only and then all those staff who couldnāt attend the staff training, and all new staff from then on are left without again.
We need to recognise that itās not only about the cadets. That we need to have a continuous system for training our staff. That if we donāt focus on the staff then they will never be able to deliver a quality programme to the cadets in their charge.
How the organization expects to deliver the āpremier youth experienceā without properly equipping our staff to do so is beyond meā¦
Are HQAC going to be guaranteeing that people are able to give up their spare time to do this?
Give the opportunities, but donāt mandate that X number of people have to do courses, because then you just end up in the situation weāre in now; people doing things just to shut up the powers that be, but have no interest in the topic and wonāt teach it.
Iām hearing a awful lot of ānot my problem guvā or āIāve got my quals alreadyā.
I am seriously interested in peoples ideas for how we are going to generate and recover the loss in staff numbers, quals and therefore total training capacity.
Or are we simply accepting that covid is the final watershed moment where the RAFAC becomes an online training organisation only. After all everything is a bit too hard isnt itā¦
Iām not sure that the āmy squadron is okayā attitude is really an issue. Iād say that we should be expecting Sqn staff to worry about their own unit and that we shouldnāt be placing undue burden on them to concern themselves with how other units are doingā¦ Thatās the job of those of us on Wing staff.
It should be down to us to ensure that the Squadron staff in our Wings are getting the training and support they need to do the job. If a squadron is well equipped with trained staff then great - thatās one less to be worrying about at this time.
Certainly we can request and encourage those who hold specialist quals to use them for a wider benefit where possible but I think itās the general training where we need to focus our efforts too.
Staff come in with varying backgrounds. Some will immediately be able to take on certain subjects but others will commonly appear with no knowledge at all about anything in our syllabus but with a desire to learn. We need to provide those learning opportunities.
Twice on 2 threads in 30 minutes.
Someoneās pleased with themselvesā¦
Are you on wing staff now per chance?
My emphasis.
Yes it should. Doesnt happen everywhere sadly.
No meaningful generation of staff training going on in my wing.
Wing staff too busy patting themselves on the back for running a one off update to volunteers. Literally.
Focusing on QAIC and JL, I donāt think suspending the courses for one year is the answer. Thatās not fair for the cadets who want to attend the courses, and for some there may not be a next year.
On a general staff training tangent, I think we need to expand our AVIP course to be a series of modules to ideally be completed during the first year or two.
Modules such as safeguarding, heartstart etc should be completed within first 6 months, then the rest later. Other modules could be āThe exec roles of a squadronā, āThe Cadet Experienceā, āBuilding a training programā, āBlue Aviation instructorā etc, our CFAVās should attend introductory modules on all of our core activities.
No, I just feel that Wing level need to take ownership of their responsibilities.
Enthused to now be in a position to start delivering what Iād been requesting at Sqn level for years.
Iād agree. Though Iām not sure whether modules on all of the core activities would be necessaryā¦ Although I suppose at a low level just to give an overview of what we do would be sensible. Perhaps thatās exactly what you mean.
I do think that engaging volunteers early on to find out what field(s) theyāre interested in is important. From there we can guide them and ensure that we give them the training to develop their knowledge and interest.
This was going to be my point. The age ranges for those courses are very limited anyway so taking them completely away for a year is going to mean some cadets never get the chance. That may not be a problem if youāre thinking strategically but it is a bit unfair.
From experience of QAIC I think youād struggle to tag any staff onto many of the modules. There isnāt enough physical space (especially at Boscombe Down) and thereās barely enough time to get all of the cadets through everything they need to do never mind tagging on extra staff too.
Personally, I think the way to go would be to have modularised staff training in various streams dependent on where your interests lie.
