Sadly, that sort of local poldarks is all too common. It really does annoy me.
We have a huge shortage of uniformed staff, a large number of CIs; and some Wings / Regions are making up their own rules which only make the situation worse.
ACP 20 couldn’t be clearer on the subject.
SNCOs (ATC) may also be appointed as direct entrants and it is not necessary for an applicant to have previously served in any capacity before their appointment. Initial appointments will be in the rank of Sergeant (ATC)
For those wanting a commission who are not not ex-cadet SNCOs then they can do 12 months as CI or Sgt before becoming eligible.
The SCC do similar, and all the SCC Officers I’ve met who’ve done a year as a Petty Officer have been better for it. They have a better appreciation of how to command other staff, having been under that command themselves previously.
You need to be careful though. Just because something can be done on Teams doesn’t mean it should be. Remove too much of the social element and interacting with new people and you’ll lose staff.
I agree to a point but many volunteers with no Cadet or Regular service are joining the organisation to help their local unit a couple hours per week.
We have this tendancy to throw everything to a Wing or Regional level because there appears to be a lack of trust for the training to be delivered in a consistent manner but it puts alot of people off especially when they are juggling work, family, their own unit etc etc etc
Prior to Covid maybe this is what everyone wanted but the fact is that many people cant afford the luxury or spending time away because of work or family commitments whereas a TEAMs training session could alleviate this issue.
We certainly don’t make as much use of Teams and other online delivery as we could. The military skills team have done some webinars which were very good, for example.
Online can also bring a wider range of experience and expertise together, beyond what would be realistic face to face.
Potential commissioning applicants must fill one of the following criteria:
a. Be serving in the RAFAC, and served at least 12 months, as a non-commissioned officer; WO/FS/Sgt (ATC).
b. Be serving in the RAFAC, and served at least 12 months, as a Civilian Instructor (CI).
c. Be an ex-cadet who has reached the rank of CWO, FS or Sgt and who has served as a cadet for a minimum of 4 years and is aged between 20 and 25. If the time limit is exceeded, ex-cadets must be appointed as either a CI or SNCO, and serve at least 3 months, prior to putting in a commissioning application.
d. Under exceptional circumstances, where previous experience and skills are deemed appropriate for CFAV service, Civilian Committee members may be considered for commission if they have served at least 12 months . . .
I think if I was to run a squadron again I would look at having a monthly INSET night - ie a night for staff only to do refresher training, compulsory training, catch up on planning and admin and to have a general staff meeting. Wouldn’t need to be training every month, but maybe one in three would be training, one in three staff meeting and planning and prep and one in three a more social evening. The cadets wont lose much from having 7 parades a month instead of 8, however for staff I think it would be a good balance to remove some of the “at home” work.
Whilst the mandatory training can be done online, and we could deliver other training via Teams, I don’t personally feel that it’s the best option.
New staff need to interact with their peers. We need to ensure that the people we bring in are capable of standing up in front of other people to instruct (and if they can’t yet then we must help them get there). The social element is one of the biggest selling points of CFAV service.
None of those key requirements are served by sitting at home, alone, in front of the PC for a weekend training course.
Bit of a thread bump but the Staff Exodus post got me thinking.
We should look at the things that make it difficult to volunteer / continue to volunteer.
There’s a tendency to go back to the ‘old ways’ whereas Covid should have been a chance for change.
The question about training weekends for example. Not everyone can give up a weekend at a time (especially younger staff who might have younger kids). If you can, it’s usually shared billets in a horrible MOD transit camp, not a chance to stay in a station mess. And they are often in hard to reach places.
It’s all a bit National Service 1950s style.
Could we for example use a better mix of Teams (or even a better online platform) mixed with centrally located commercial conference venues / hotels? Daytimes only?
Yes it might cost money but it would be an investment.
I nearly added this in the staff exodus thread as it was kind of related to my response over there and if any analysis was performed on leaver but felt it better here rather than cause a thread drift.
I often see comment on the forum about lack of understanding from above functions above wing and the reposonse to the qualification question on VoV did raise some questions for me with the generic ‘not very popular’ response
I may be doing someone a disservice but I do wonder if that response is low take up by CFAV cadre and relevance but has anyone ever asked CFAV why they are not taking up the quals?
I know I didn’t take up as, in my opinion and for my circumstances at my more advanced years, they add no value to what I can offer the cadets and are of no relevance to me in my day job.
Do they feel quals are bit like scout badges and will just be collected?
If they did offer something relevant to youth leading and/or working with young people that I would have taken advantage of that as it is more relevant to my volunteering and would potrntially help me add more value to what I can offer.
Personally, I’ve looked at the CVQO qualifications as an opportunity to spend ~ £100 (IIRC) and several hours writing in return for a qualification that I don’t want and won’t benefit me.
I might consider it if it was free. Maybe. Although I still probably wouldn’t actually do the write-up.