Literally just got home after getting my leading cadet qualification, last Friday was told to stop into the office before break on Tuesday, so as I did, I went in, asked about my qualification and my FS (staff) says “Oh yes, your leading cadet, so basically we have it for you tonight, but there’s a slight problem, we can’t give you another qualification for 2 years.”
I asked why, and he simply replied “Well, since you’ve done the exams quite quickly, we can’t give you another qualification for 2 years” and before this, after I did my exams, before I got the badge itself, they were giving warnings saying “To those newer cadets please wait a bit before doing your qualifications as we’ve got a cadet that has to wait for 2 years to do another qualification.”
Now, I didn’t think that was me, but now it turns out it is, now I’m not too sure what to do about it…
Asked a few friends that I passed first class with and they said they’ve also done their exams really quickly and rushed through it but don’t have a problem, very stuck and confused right now, but.
I’m not exactly sure on how or why this could happen…
Asked my friend who literally joined pretty much the same time as me (Around 2 weeks before as I was on holiday before I joined, otherwise I would’ve joined earlier.) and she said that they did the exams the night before me, and that they weren’t told anything about having to wait.
Any help would be much appreciated as im really stuck on what to do now.
I don’t fully understand the circumstances, but I can offer some observations. Some of them may come close.
If cadets rush through content too quickly, they frequently fail to recall things once they’ve passed the exams. I often wonder if we try to cover too much that can’t reasonably be retained by a typical cadet. So they could be trying to slow people down.
There comes a point when you literally aren’t allowed to present a classification badge unless cadets have reached a certain age. Some of your peers could be older, and so this wouldn’t be a problem for them, which could lead to the scenario you describe where it appears inconsistent.
I’m looking to start covering only two classification subjects for a combined senior / master carrousel. This means that Senior Cadet will actually take a bit longer to attain, with Master Cadet then following on a bit more swiftly. It makes it more manageable for us, which is why we’re trying it.
But that could also then appear to apply the breaks a bit for a Leading Cadet.
The general guidance for classifications is roughly one level per year.
There are times when this might not be stuck to, e.g. if an cadet has joined at 16, but trying to go much faster than that isn’t particularly sensible, as @OC.1324 has said above.
Agreed, but, 2 years? I mean i get that I did it quickly but my friend on the other hand didn’t get stuck, she’s the same age as me, but joined about 2 weeks before, and did the qualification exams at the same time as me, and also rushed through them in one night, so, I’m not really understanding how or why I’m the only one who’s stuck…
Even more of a reason to ask. You could mention you’ve noticed others in your position weren’t told the same thing and you wondered what the reason was?
If it is the age limit on higher classifications then it will apply equally to everyone below the minimum age. However, classifications aren’t everything and there are plenty of other qualifications (PTS) and other cadet experiences you can make the most of whilst not studying for classifications.
Edit to add: In fact, I would strongly suggest that freedom from classification training for two years is a blessing.
But theres no point rushing anything,. Cadets is a marathon not a sprint, you dont want to get to 16/17 and have achieved/done everything you can at that age