Autumn CPD Part 5
This event was kindly arranged by Fenella at Field House Assessments and was run at Hadlow College in Kent over 2 days. This was an opportunity for current NPTC Assessors to gain the necessary qualifications to deliver the new suite of C&G Integrated Assessment units and also assess using the new digitised system.
More details on these units soon, but in brie,f some of the units that used to be independent assessment only will now be available as part of a Integrated Assessment course.
· Chainsaw Maintenance (not crosscutting)
· Medium Tree Felling
· Powered Pole Pruner
· Tree Pruning
It was presented jointly (in case either fell asleep) by John Sarsfield (C&G Principal Verifier) and Jon Priscott (Technical Verifier) largely using a powerpoint presentation with occasional resprite for activities. The planning of the assessment was useful, and I also liked the kids colouring pens & activity sheets to help calm disruptive members down!
Training Land Based Skills was covered in day 1, with a very brief overview of:
· risk assessment principles
· learning styles
· bariers to learning, both physiological and physiological
· training plans & resources
· the importance of feedback for trainers
Day 2 covered the perhaps more familiar area of Assessing Land Based Skills, in the context of the digital pen system, with a look at the following:
· validating learners identity
· principles of assessment
· Plan & perform the assessment process, making valid decisions
· Complete a record of assessment
· Understand the quality assurance process
· be able to select procedures to resolve complaints
All of this should not have been have been news to anyone in attendance, and it was tested at the end of each day with an open book exam. It was a shame really that it was possible to score 100% by careful and efficient referencing and copying of material, rather than a genuine opportunity to display understanding.
In my view, this course was a missed opportunity to actually add to the admittedly limited formal educational & learning knowledge & skill base of most instructors. I would liked to have heard from any of the following:
· A qualified & experienced teacher to talk about educational theory and it’s application.
· Learning needs specialist, to give strategies to support those with dyslexia, or a social communication difficulty.
· Behavioural physchologist – help understand why people act & react in certain ways
· NLP Expert – to give ideas on how we and others see the world, and perhaps deal with difficult or aggressive people.
On a positive note, the lunches were excellent, and it was a good chance to catch up with the local assessors and meet new friends that had traveled from further afield.
All of our training team are Lantra approved arborist instructors. Get in touch to get yourself booked on to one of our many courses including chainsaw training, tree cutting courses and LOLER inspection courses.