The Dark Side Of Training.

[Eamonn]

I like training and training's.

Scouting with no kids around? Is at times kinda nice.

I enjoy spending time with the participants, learning about them and from them.

I know nearly all of the people who present the training's in the area where I live. Just about all of them are really nice. Just about all of them have a passion for Scouting and really care about what they are doing and the reason why they do it.

Sometimes when I'm really bored (Really bored!) I'll take an on-line course just to make sure that I'm up to date and not going to be caught with my pants down.

Over the years, I've seen training syllabus for training's come and go. Some are better, some? Maybe not.

For the most part training is in my book good fun and normally time well spent.

I as a rule tend not to look on what I call the "Dark Side" of training.

A week or so back there was in this forum some debate about "Following The Syllabuses"

I can and do see at times when an experienced Scouter gets up and presents what he or she knows is the way that works and has worked for them.

However back when I was our Council Training Chairman, I asked that all of the people presenting training's stuck to the syllabus. If they wanted to present other or different ways, they were welcome to do so during breaks and anytime, but not at "The Training."

I'm not and never have been the type of fellow who looks over his shoulder and spends sleepless night worrying about liability.

But I'm big enough and ugly enough to know that a lot of the stuff in the training's is not so much about just getting the job done, but just as much about the BSA being able to cover their tail when things go wrong.

Of course when these things are not covered, because the presenter thought he knew better or decided that this bit wasn't important, Tail covering becomes far more difficult.

The guys who attend National Camp School are as a rule a great bunch. Most go because they love whatever it is that they have gone to get the certification for. Over the time that they are certified they will see a lot more youth members than the average Scout Leader will in that amount of time. Most of the courses offered deal in areas where there is more risk involved than the average Scouter will have to deal with or is even allowed to deal with.

I know that maybe I'm being unfair? But given the opportunity, I'd just love to be able to spend time at Camp School and then take the rest of the summer off to work at a Scout Camp. I can't because I have other commitments, I have a real job, a real family and a home to look after. So at times I ask myself "How can they do it?"

Sure I can see the guys who are retired and the young guys who are at college. But a middle-aged guy? Why isn't he working? What is he going to do when the camp is done?

Most of the people who attend National Camp School do so in order that they can fill a position on the camp staff for which they will get paid. Once they cross that line, they are no longer volunteers.

I'm not sure we want or need professional trainers.

Eamonn.

 

[sherminator505]

I personally feel that it is perfectly acceptable for trainers to share their own personal experiences in training, so long as two conditions are met:

 

* the additional material is not in conflict with the material in the course syllabus, and

 

* the discussion does not degenerate into a story-swapping session that drags and drags and takes away from the focus of the training.(This message has been edited by sherminator505)

[SR540Beaver]

Sherm,

 

I agree with you and will add this......that the additional "information" is clearly expressed as such.

[Eagle92]

Some of the folks I met at NCS go and get certified to run theings year round at their council camp. One COPE staffer made his job Team Building int he corporate world, and used his COPE experience to create his company and business.

 

Other middle agers i've seen are teachers, and this is their summer job. heck some of them get their wives and children involved. A very good friend of mine has worked at Philmont, and had his wife and sons also workgin their. I believe one of the sons met his wife working at Philmont, btu don't quote me on that.

[shortridge]

Echoing Eagle92, I've known a lot of "older guy" teachers who work summers at camp. (I worked with one teacher/COPE director who worked 9-6 - he lived at his home nearby.) I've also known people who run construction-type businesses who come on board as maintenance staffers when things get slow (like now!). And I've also known folks laid off in the spring who find a good nest at camp - 2-3 months of breathing room over the summer where they can pick up some solid management experience. (Two months as a camp aquatics director, working 15-hour days and supervising a 15-member staff, is a great resume item for a year-round job at a YMCA pool, for example.)

 

Personally, I'd like to see a couple of professional trainers in each council - probably not full-time gigs, but simply more people offering advanced training on some of the more challenging specialty skill areas, such as BSA Lifeguard, WFA, LNT Master Educators, etc.

[eisely]

I have participating as a trainer now for eight years. It is the single most rewarding thing that I think I have ever done or expect to do. I probably count as one of the "old guys" and I agree with some of the observations here. It is too easy to lapse into war stories. War stories that are brief and on point to a particular question may help make a point, but it is too easy to get distracted.

 

People should generally stick to the syllabus, but I have found that there are technical errors in some of the materials that BSA has produced. In such situations I try to teach what I think is correct, and why I think it is correct.

 

There are no shortcuts on safety issues and there should not be. If some trainee chooses to go back to his or her unit and intentionally ignore some stated policy there is nothing anybody can do to prevent that. But is the trainer's obligation to make clear what the rules are and leave no doubt in anybody's mind what the rules are.