ratings currency

[skypuppy 1]

I just found out that due to sport canada directives cspa will be implementing new currency requirements for ratings holders in canada.

Up until now, once you completed a ratings course you had one year (or two, if extension needed) to complete the minimum number of students required to have your rating marked 'continuous', after which you simply needed to renew your cspa membership each year in order to keep your ratings valid.

In the future apparently instructors will be required to complete minimum requirements FOR EACH RATING in order for them to be valid, and have it signed off.

In canada we have coach 1 (in-air and on ground with novice students, things like turns, backloops), coach 2 (1on1 rw with novices, etc.), jm (iad/sl progression), SSI (first jump courses), PFF (basic aff), SSE (first jump and signing endorsements). That would mean dropping X amount of s/l or iad students to maintain that rating AND Y amount of pff students at the same time, and so many in-air coaching jumps for that rating, and teaching certain number of first jump courses for that rating, plus signing off a certain number of endorsements per year or losing that ability.

I wondered if other national organizations had these sort of policies, and if it was a problem for instructors at some dz's to get the numbers needed to stay current, say with pff. Or could it be a problem on some dz's for instructors who do mainly pff or tandem to get in sl loads?

What are other countries' experiences?

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[tetra316 0]

USPA does have currency requirements for all rating holders from coaches up. I don't recall exactly what they are but if I do remember correctly the requirments are very little. Something like 10 coach jumps a year, 20 AFF, 1 tandem every three months etc.

[riggerrob 643]

This change will make work more difficult for manifestors as they struggle to balance the work load for a variety of instructors in an effort to keep them all "current."

Manifestors will also have to remind some instructors that - if they don't drop "X" number of static-liners - they will loose their ratings.

More headaches!

Remember that back in 2000, CSPA's Technical Committee contemplated requiring riggers to send in annual reports - proving their "currency." The Technical Committee quickly dropped that concept when they realized how much paperwork was involved!

[ufk22 33]

With USPA, meeting the renewal requirements of the top rating renews all the lower ratings, but it must be done yearly.

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[diablopilot 2]

Rob, it doesn't sound like it's anyone's responsibility other than the instructors to keep current, and the idea of getting a rating, and keeping it even if you don't exercise is, well ..... crazy.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[skypuppy 1]

The realities of skydiving and instructing in a busy full-time year-round turbine-powered Southern US dropzone is far-removed from a cessna-powered 4 or 5-month season in Bum-f**k, Canada, where even that season can be shortened by weather.

It's quite possible you could go a year without jump-mastering, spending your time doing tandems or pff, only to find the next year the previous jumpmasters have moved on and it may be up to you to drop students. Now, surprise, you no longer have a rating. Or vice-versa....

But of course if part-time instructors all stop instructing, that creates more work for the full-time go-getters....

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[Canadianfella 0]

Although I am here in Canada and know nothing of currency mandated in other places or by other organizations in skydiving, I do know that every other profession I've been involved with (school teachers, skiing instruction, snowboarding instruction, etc.) there are currency requirements.

The difference is that the organization does not encourage instructors to do the same thing over and over and over again for 20 years... They update information, they change policy and procedures and they change with the times.

This is how skydiving organizations should go as well. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT is key to maintaining a high quality level of instruction.

Take for example the dropzone I currently jump at: Some of the instructors have been teaching for 10+ years and in that time some things have changed for first jump courses, how you dispatch students and the levels of PFF. Some of the coach stuff has changed as well. If these instructors haven't taken a course in 10 years, how are they to know if they are not willing to listen to the younger, more recently certified instructors?

If a professional development requirement is mandated for say, every couple years, it then becomes the instructors job to ensure they have the most current information and methods out there. If they don't take PD or take a new course, they do not maintain their ratings... it's a pretty simple concept.

This will encourage instructors to keep up to date - not just continue doing things the way they've been doing it for the last 10+ years.

Because someone who's been doing it wrong for 10 years will just continue to do it wrong if all they have to do is dispatch x number of students or coach x number of jumpers the same way they've always been doing it.

[phantomII 37]

German rules:

Tandem - valid 3 years, medical, 60 tandems or 2 with examiner

AFF - valid 3 years, medical, 60 AFF jumps or 2 evaluationjumps and participation in a safety education program

[riggerrob 643]

Good point Canadianfella.

It makes sense to require periodic refresher training for all instructors.

I try to lead by example by adding a new rating or auditing an instructor course every year.

For example, this year I attended the PIA Symposium and added a Strong Tandem Service Center rating.
Last year I earned a Strong Tandem Examiner rating.
The year before that I earned an Exihibition Jump Rating, etc.

In conclusion, instructor currency can be measured by:
a: how many students they dropped in the past year
b: adding a new instructional rating
c: auditing a course for a rating they already hold

[skypuppy 1]

I do know that every other profession I've been involved with (school teachers, skiing instruction, snowboarding instruction, etc.) there are currency requirements.
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What are the currency requirements for school teachers? I know maybe there may be employer requirements with individual boards, but I don't know of any for the Ontario College of Teachers, who regulate in the province, to renew.

So, like I said before, it should be between the instructor and the employer (dzo, chief instructor, wahtever) what the requirements would be.

On the other hand, teachers also get a certain amount of pd on 'pa days', for which they are paid. I doubt too many instructors would have a problem being paid for pd at the dz, either....

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[skypuppy 1]

Just general comments

It's one thing to audit a course, it's another thing to have to pay to audit a course.... I haven't actually heard anyone invited to audit a course they already had over the years. (Well, that's not true, I have heard of one, but it's never been suggested to instructors in general that they could audit courses if they wished as far as I know.)

It would be ironic to a tandem examiner rating, only to lose other coach or jm ratings due to currency regulations. That;s my problem with the idea.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[BrianM 1]

Quote

I doubt too many instructors would have a problem being paid for pd at the dz, either....

I wouldn't have a problem with it, but I suspect my DZO might!

"It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg

[riggerrob 643]

In the United States, pilots are required to do a biennial flight review - to retain their pilot licenses - or earn a new rating.
A biennial flight review is basically a repeat of the private pilot check ride.
Ho hum!
Boring!
That is why dozens of small flying schools offer one or two week courses for tail-wheel, aerobatics, glider, float-plane, recovery from unusual attitudes, etc. ratings.

[tetra316 0]

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It would be ironic to a tandem examiner rating, only to lose other coach or jm ratings due to currency regulations. That;s my problem with the idea.

With USPA you just have to worry about renewing your tandem or AFF rating and your coach rating is automatically renewed since it is considered a lessor rating. Your highest rating renewal qualifies all the lesser ratings.

[BrianM 1]

Quote

With USPA you just have to worry about renewing your tandem or AFF rating and your coach rating is automatically renewed since it is considered a lessor rating. Your highest rating renewal qualifies all the lesser ratings.

Our ratings are not so linear. Check out the graph here. It is possible to have as many as four of your ratings where none are higher than the others. JM/GCI/SSI/C2 is one combination, PFFI/GCI/SSI/C2 is the other; there are other combinations with fewer than four. There is no CSPA tandem rating, just the manufacturer rating, so I suppose we could call it five.

"It's amazing what you can learn while you're not talking." - Skydivesg