Initiation of courses

Press, 15 August 1980, Page 9

Initiation of courses

In his report to the recent annual general meeting of the Canterbury Regional Training Committee, the chairman Mr L. R. Kingsbury, went into how training courses might be initiated in some detail.

He said that someone in the rural community could have an idea that a course might be of benefit to her or him. In general discussion it could be found that several other people had a similar idea. This in itself might be sufficient justification for a request to be made for a course on the topic. Some guidance might be needed and this could be obtained through the chairman, an appropriate member of the regional training committee or the

training officer, Mr Maurice Webb. If the course involved any expenditure of public money there would need to be a commitment or a very strong indication that a minimum number of people would attend. With the help of members of the training comittee from various organisations or as a result of the desire of individuals within a part of the rural community a course could, and in many instances should, be extended to include persons outside the membership of a given organisation. The involvement of the training committee or training officer would vary. For a simple course all that might be needed was the arrangement of an

appropriate person to take it. Details like the date, timing and local arrangements for the course rested with the promoters. For mote complex courses the training officer might, if needed, become more directly' involved with some of the organisational work. And on a few occasions the training committee might take the initiative to promote and organise a course of its own choosing. The type of course and its location could vary to suit any particular circumstances, such as being of a few hours duration at, say, night, or an extended one over several days, not necessarily concurrent. A lead time of three to six months was necessary in developing a training

programme to enable the training officer to obtain suitable people to take the course and to arrange suitable funding if public expenditure was involved.

There -was no guarantee that all requests could be met, but the longer the lead time allowed the greater was the possibility of holding a course. By directing all training activities through the training committe, whether the committee’s in, volvement was minimal or extensive, allowed monitoring of courses to be undertaken. On occasions duplication could be avoided, and innovative ideas could be extended from one area to another and a record of appropriate trainers coula be established.

Mr Kingsbury' said that the whole exercise was really one of communication so that the greatest number of people would ultimately benefit from this training.