RNZAF Base Auckland
10 – 19 August 2007
Firstly, let me note that this report will not be an “I got up 0545 today and went to breakfast” type report. It stands as a reflection on the course as a whole.
There’s been rumour, promise and threat on the air for some time now in regards to the New Zealand Cadet Forces becoming a provider of unit standards to NZQA students. This is an exciting prospect, but it seems that the more we try to strive towards this goal, the further away we end up being. I took the first step towards this end goal last week by attending the first of a new breed of Officers’ Instructional Technique courses at RNZAF Base Auckland.
A 10 day stay on an RNZAF base is always a pleasure – in fact for me, really quite a treat. It is doubly so when most of the members of the course are previous course mates or staff and the balance are made up of people who are merely friends I have yet to make. This is the culture of the Cadet Forces that I so love; a network of fantastic people giving up their time to make a difference to the youth of New Zealand. As a non-operational base, Hobsonville (or Hobby as it is affectionally known) is quite a bit different to Ohakea – my home away from home away from home. Limited services and run down buildings gave us quite an isolated feel as opposed to OHK where you really feel part of the action of base life. Quite a different but nonetheless enjoyable experience! So our ten days were spread between the Hudson block barracks and the Cadet Forces training centre. Living close-knit like this for that long really brings a group together as a whole and – in the end – facilitates great learning.
To say the IT course was “beneficial” to me is a bit of an understatement. As an instructor “officially untrained” in the ways of NZCF IT, I was fully prepared to take on board new instructional techniques and tools that I could use to benefit my classroom sessions. What I wasn’t prepared for however was the amount of self reflection and indeed self improvement that came out of attending.
As stated, our classes were run at the NZCF training centre on base and (as this was the first course of its kind) our training partner Tai Poutini Polytech brought in internationally renowned trainers for 6 days. We gained an depth knowledge, understanding and experience of planning, delivering and assessing training sessions through lessons, group work, practical and reflective sessions. Whilst it took hours and hours of class and after-hours work I personally feel like I’ve gained more than just new skills to use in an instructional period. Through well thought out and taught self-evaluation exercises I honestly feel that I have gained a greater understanding of myself and now have a far better comprehension of what it really means to teach and to learn. Even the simple act of watching the various teaching/instructing/facilitating methods gave us a great demostration of these processes at work. It turns out that contrary to my own personal belief, learning isn’t a dictatorial process at all. Learning is interactive. Also, if learning is a shared experience, it is truly a more productive experience. I’ve been given a great grounding for improving classroom sessions to allow our Cadets to have a more important place in their own education.
I’ve completed the course now, but have a number of other assessments to complete until I gain the NZQA credits and unit standards towards my officer training. The great news is that we 10 students are (or will be) the first NZCF officers to acquire unit standards for assessing unit standards under this new form of course. This makes us a valuable resource primarily in the act of assessing fellow officers at a national course level. There is – of course – a filter down effect, which is Cadet-centric – it’s not all about us as Officers after all. As more and more officers become unit standard assessor qualified, we will find ourselves as an organisation in a very strong place for the rollout of Cadet based unit standards assessment – assuming this happens. At this stage however, a rollout date is something we wouldn’t even want to guess at, if it happens at all. Consider the whole NZQA thing as “TBA” until further notice. But in the event that it does (we say “when”, not “if”), we as the Trail Blazers of the new NZCF training system will have had ample time in which to prepare our peers for the changes that it will bring.
So! In summary I look forward to getting back to the unit and back in front of some of your classes to really put this new knowledge into practice. If you have any feedback on this report, the course or my lessons, please feel free to leave it here or use the contact form on this site to reach me.
Bren Murrell
A/PLTOFF, NZCF
No. 13 (City of Napier) Squadron