Whilst I don't know what is going on at the College these days other than hearsay, I can't help but make a few observations about Arkady's post
Originally Posted by Arkady
Our unit has been saying for years that more Students should be failed at the college rather than be allowed to progress to live units and waste valuable training time, so, for the moment, it would be hypocritical to criticise the College for making it tougher for Students to pass, however they may be doing it.
Well, there's a nice positive attitude and a welcome for new starters. I always thought we did training aiming for success rather than failure.
If the validation rate at LACC improves significantly as these New Course Students are posted in, then the College will have been justified in their approach. If not..........
And so Arkady, you don't think the quality of your unit's training has anything to do with it. You don't think, either, that your OJTI's have/need skills in finding training techniques that suit the trainee's needs. once again, you seem to be almost planning for failure, for a lower pass rate - perhaps only so that you can say "I told you so".
People who become Student ATCOs are generally hardworking, intelligent and above all confident. Very few Student ATCOs will have ever struggled or failed anything in their lives, prior to commencing their ATC training, so when they do struggle or fail it is a totally new experience and a challenge that some cannot rise to.
A stunning generalisation but if true, good for them. It's just a shame that you appear to feel that you need to break them in (rather like horses).
It has not been uncommon at LACC (and LATCC as was) to have to fail a very capable student because they have stopped learning. They cannot conceive that they are going to fail and begin to ignore (or in some cases argue against) the instruction and advice of their OJTIs. When they are chopped it comes as a bolt out of the blue despite the evidence accumulating against them.
Maybe you do not recognise that someone prepared to argue a professional point is showing all the signs of reaching a level of knowledge and confidence where the training is paying off. Instead, you see it as something that needs to be knocked out of them! Again, perhaps this is more a reflection of your unit's trainers' skills.
Any capable Student chopped at LACC will be recommended for another chance at another unit (but it is not our decision whether or not they get one) and these Students often shine at their new units. I think that the realization that they CAN fail will often change their approach to their training and make them more receptive to criticism.
Or, just maybe, it's a reflection on your unit.
The effectiveness of the new courses will not be known for a couple of years yet. I have serious misgivings about the lack of experience our new trainees have but this should only lengthen the amount of time it takes to get valid, rather than prevent validation itself.
Doesn't that rather depend on what the training objectives for the college courses are. Or do you not care?
For those at, or shortly to be starting at the College I have one crumb of comfort. The greater the challenge at the College the better prepared you will be for the challenge of live training.
That's nice.
I can't help finding Arkady's kind of arrogance rather disappointing. Whilst NATS still seems to have problems selecting and training ATCOs ( it has for the last 30 years since I started in this business), I thought the 'we have to fail people to show how good we are' attitude was long gone.
Before anyone at LACC starts telling me how hard it is to do the job there (and no, I've never worked LACC/LATCC), there's plenty of people who have managed to get validated so you don't change for work in a telephone box! And [B]every[B] unit has challenges - showing that you will be able to handle those challenges properly is all that should be needed for a trainee at any unit.
There is no question that you need a certain something to be a controller. What that 'something' is no-one seems to have managed to pin down otherwise we'd have a 100% record on selection and training. But, for heaven's sake, when somebody does get selected (whatever criteria might have been used to select them), let's try and help them get through.
Although how having 60 in a class for the formative training courses will help I really can't imagine!!!!