Training in New Zealand

I e-mailed this to Kathie a few days back, but as I have been asked again since
then I thought I might as well post it. It is fairly long.

There are two levels of Guide Trainer here in NZ.

A Certificated Trainer is able to take trainings within the Province she is
certificated to, (in my case it will be Wellington). There are 21 Guide
Provinces within New Zealand.

It is a position which you must be invited to take up.
In order to be Certificated you are secretly screened, your unit is visited
and your performance assessed, and then if you are still thought to be
suitable you are invited to join the Training Team.

As soon as a course for Prospective Trainers (which is what I am at present)
comes up, (at least twice a year - they are run Nationally), you are issued
with an invitation to attend. At this training you get taught all about media
aids, public speaking, different modes of presentation, dynamic approaches to
topics, dealing with people, preparing sessions, (we had to do two of these -
one with 12 hours to prepare it from resources we had accesible), training
needs, you get videoed, and have to use all sorts of techy equipment, (but not
computers :) ). It is a very high pressure course, but you are not given a
final assessment at the course. They do grade you and have a talk with you
about what they see your strong and weak points to be. This grading is not a
"final" assessment.

As an aside : I had an awful time on the training, feeling very stressed.
There wasn't any time to relax - it was 4 days and nights non-stop. I went in
with a reasonable amount of confidence in my ability to cope, and came out
feeling as if I would never achieve anything. My end assessment talk was
great. They assessed me as having a lot of potential, but my extreme shyness
is a liability as I let it pull me back. They also pointed out various
technical things I could improve, (speaking moderation etc) and the things I
did well, (so I left feeling ok about things :) )

A few weeks after the Training a letter is sent by our National Training
Advisor to the Provincial Training Team responsible for me, and a copy is sent
to me. In it there are guidelines about what was talked about in the chat,
and when I should be assessed, my strengths and weaknesses.

To be assessed I have to do the following :

A: Plan in detail a programme for a weekend residential course for leaders

B: Prepare a chart, leaflet, audio or visual aid, for use with a unit or with
leaders, about lones, special needs, or some other area of Guiding.

Sections A and B are to be presented at the time of assessment.

C: Take the following training sessions:

i. One of at least 3/4 hour on :
Some part of any branch programme, or
how to involve families in guiding programmes, or
the role and responsibilities of leaders:

ii. One of at least 3/4 hour on :
Promise and Law, or
International, or
Patrol System, or
Aim and principles of Guiding;

iii. One on any aspect of the outdoors

The discussion method must be used in at least one of the above sessions.

iv. One involving practical demonstration of ceremonial or ceremonies.

I get assessed by my Provincial Commissioner, and a Diploma'd Trainer. (Dip
Trainers are able to train Nationally, and are selected from the pool of
certificated Trainers for further training. They are the second level of
Trainer I mentioned at the top.)

Once you are a Trainer you have a responsibility to attend a refresher course
every two years (with the same group that went through prospectives with you),
your warrant for training is returned annually.

I guess I probably went into more detail than you actually wanted. It is on
my mind at the moment as I have to start preparing for it about now, and I
haven't had that spark of inspiration I would like to have.
If anyone out there has some wonderful ideas, particularly for c.i, or c.ii,
please feel free to suggest them, I have had some great ideas from Scouts-L in
the past.
Don't be put off suggesting something because you work with the Boys side of
the movement, I haven't come across any ideas on here yet that aren't
transferrable to our work with Girls :)
Haere Ra
Anne.

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