I remember doing a course up there and we offered to take shorter lunch breaks (3/4 of an hour instead of an hour an a half!) and taking shorter t-breaks so that we might get away earlier on Fridays in an attempt to miss the M6 car park. The instructor was well up for it but was told NO by the management. It seems if one sqn has early stacks the others might hear about it and the stocks and shares values of the said sqn might drop.
Fair point mate, and one which I agree with 100%. I've been involved in just this argument from both sides of the managerial fence for a good number of years now, and its one which goes around and around.
From an instructors point of view, one of the biggest bones of contention is the lack of remit they are given to conduct their course in whichever way they see fit and, most importantly, to be able to knock the training day on the head when they detect that a saturation point has been reached. This applies particularly to the phase 3 courses where everyone naturally wants to make their way home at the weekends and Fridays can become a major headache because, as an instructor, you know that there will be an inevitable push from your course to get an early stack, a push which becomes the main focus of their attention and naturally so.
From the other side, the management argument usually runs along the lines of...
You are given, say, 120 periods (there are 8 periods in a day, 40 in a week so 120 would be a 3 week course) in which to deliver this course. If you are letting your students go on Friday afternoons then that equates to 12 periods, or 1 1/2 days, of training time not used. 1 1/2 days that could be knocked off the length of the course to send personnel back to their units where they are badly needed. The sight of students knocking off early, or an unsually quiet station and empty carpark on a Friday afternnon, therefore sends the senior management into a bit of a tizzy and, trust me mate, its the FIRST accusation they throw at you when you or your students comment that the course is a bit 'rushed' and tight for time.
The shortened breaks and lunchtime thing doesn't wash either although, as a student, I know there's nothing more infuriating than sitting on your hands during what seem to be unecessarily protracted breaks in the training day. The argument used is usually one of protecting the instructors who need the breaks from the classroom even though they are, more often than not, totally unconcerned themselves.
The gold-plated solution would be to write Friday afternoons out of the training timetable altogether for phase 3 students at least - it aint going to happen
DT_Xtremez_31:
The next best solution would be for the same trust and faith to be placed in the instructional staff to
manage their course as is placed in them to
deliver their course.
