Over the past two and a half years the Sea Kayak Program Development Committee has undertaken a comprehensive review of the sea kayak program. The following will provide an update on our current status.
Thanks to the considerable help and feedback we received from instructors all across Canada, we completed the rewrite of the skills stream program back in the Spring and have since completed the review and initial rewrite of the instructor development stream which is now available for your review.
[pdf] Download the draft Instructor Development Stream
[pdf] Download the draft Skills Development Stream
Please remember that both manuals are still in draft form so expect some layout bugs when reading through it.
Public Consultation
While the draft instructor development stream still needs to go to an editor to clean-up our grammar mistakes, we want to hear what you think of the new program. Specifically, we are keen to hear where we missed the mark or how can we improve the way items are worded.
To collect your thoughts and ideas we developed a quick survey.
You had better hurry though, the deadline for comments is December 15th, 2017.
Program Changes
While the new instructor development stream itself is generally the same (same number of levels and same names), we have made extensive changes throughout. There are too many changes to list all of them for you here, but some of the larger changes are highlighted below:
- We received feedback early on that elements of the instructor development stream were vague and sometimes confusing as to what exactly the instructor candidates need to accomplish. To fix this problem, we carefully wrote clear learning outcomes and more detailed instructions for Instructor Trainers.
- A common criticism of the old manual was that policies were scattered all throughout. To fix this we completely reorganized the content and grouped policies. Where appropriate we moved policies directly into the course syllabus itself. This will help cut down on searching the manual to make sure that your courses are in full compliance.
- Course prerequisites have been cleaned up and organized so they are easier to understand.
- While there are a couple of smaller policy changes throughout, one major proposed policy change is that Level-2 Instructors will need to get their VHF (ROC Marine) licence. Up until now it has only been a recommended certification. We are proposing the change because we feel strongly that if you are using your radio and teaching with students then you should be incompliance with the law.
- We updated and expanded the instructor theory sections for each level so Instructor Trainer’s know what topics to cover at each level..
- We updated and expanded the adaptive paddling sections.
- And finally, we significantly expanded our collection of instruction resources for Instructor Trainers and new instructors alike. The collection is now large enough that we are releasing it as it’s own manual. Look for that to come out sometime over the winter. We are always looking for more resources to include so please contact us with your ideas.
Updated Program Review Timelines
Early-November: Consultation and membership feedback on the instructor development stream.
December 15: Consultation period closes.
Early February, 2018: Final version of the program released.
Winter, 2018: Conference calls for instructors and instructor trainers organized to provide training on new program.
Fall, 2018: Quick review of the program with suggested changes to the manual.
