New IOT details?

[SACrIGGER]

Hi guys,
Does anyone have any information regarding to the new IOT courses being ran from NOV 05? Any information, along with any OASC top tips would be greatly appreciated.

Ian Dickson.

[Gweedo]

The course will be 30 weeks long - it will have 3 'terms' each of 10 weeks with a weeks' leave after each term. Cadets will graduate after term 2 - the last phase of the course will be the AWC basic and a 'transition' phase from Cadet to Officer.

Cadets will be flighted in groups of about 30 with a Flt Cdr and SNCO deputy. Training will be done by dedicated training teams with assessment completed by a specialist team to ensure commonality. The leads will be modelled on 'real life' situations with the emphasis on being able to lead subordinates rather than a willing peer group, and the cadets will be more involved in the administration aspects of the course.

[SACrIGGER]

Ok thanks for that, is there any documents available with a full breakdown of the new course, or is it still a bit too early for that sort of thing? Ian Dickson

[JessTheDog]

Leave during IOT?!?!? What is the world coming to! :confused:

They'll be getting rid of pine poles and meaningless exercise scenarios next!:{

[SmilingKnifed]

IOT without pine poles?! It's just not possible! :ugh:

[Green Meat]

About time too! There have been mutterings for quite some time now from several senior recruitment bods (in my earshot, this is not hear-say) about the lack of relevance of the current model and how the end product of IOT is not serving the needs of the post cold-war RAF particularly well.

[TurbineTooHot]

Got mocked by a cabbage wearing pongo the other day for the Station Management Sim that takes (took?) place at IOT.

Quoth he "You learn how to sit around in an office eating cream cake then? Cranwell's a f:mad: ing joke!"

Not scared to belt a pongo, so did in this case (its OK, he's a mate).

Personally found it to be highly constructive and instructive in the pastural and DW and organisational side of life.

Came in particularly handy when 3 days out of IOT was put in charge of a fair few troops.

Any views?

TTH

[Toddington Ted]

Funny old thing, the "new" IOT seems to be rather similar in structure (but not in content I'm sure) to the course I undertook (All right - struggled through!) at BRNC Dartmouth in 197 and frozen to death. This was also organised into "terms." Being aircrew (then) only 2 weeks were spent at sea!

[Feck]

The 24 week course was always the old 18 week course crammed into 24, so how on earth are they going to fill 30 weeks?

I think it's just a conspiracy to keep the pilot officers out of trouble during the hold...

[DuckDodgers]

What is this i hear about them replacing the vast number of Flt Cdrs with RAF Reg Flight Sergeants? Talk about job creation, what is next them running the Air Force? Oh yeah forgot the tale is already wagging the dog!

[scan]

Duck Dodgers.

"replacing the vast number of Flt Cdrs with RAF Reg Flight Sergeants?"

Not quite true with regards to the regt FS holding all posts. I understnd that they will in fact be open to any FS any trade.;)

[airborne_artist]

Funny old thing, the "new" IOT seems to be rather similar in structure (but not in content I'm sure) to the course I undertook (All right - struggled through!) at BRNC Dartmouth in 197 and frozen to death. This was also organised into "terms."

TT - you didn't struggle at all - you joked your way through with Rod H***** - and yes we did have leave - BRNC had (has?) a summer leave period of 4 or 5 weeks, although studes had to take part in one of a range of "approved" leave activities. With four others and a civvy tutor I sailed back from Oslo though the Kiel Canal. Only prob was getting the tutor back on board as he did enjoy a drink or two.

One (the annoying Scots Sub Lt) wangled his way onto a polo course at Taunton and spent the three weeks failing to pull stable girls ....

[chrisburden21]

Found on the Internet,

Extract of a brief on the new IOTC:

The Officer Cadet Training Review (OCTR) Team, established in Apr 03, delivered their Report to AOC TG outlining the optimum training solution for Initial Officer Training (IOT), together with recommendations for taking forward through-life officer development. AOC TG endorsed the Report and a new IOT Course (IOTC) based on 3 terms of 10 weeks core training, with one week’s leave at the end of each of the first 2 terms, is to be introduced on 21 Nov 05. The final term will include the 2-week Basic Air Warfare Course.

The OCTR determined that tomorrow’s officer will need to be military minded and of a courageous and determined fighting spirit, mentally agile and physically robust, politically and globally astute, technologically competent, capable of understanding and managing inter-personal relations, flexible, adaptable and responsive, willing to take risks and able to handle ambiguity. It was considered that there were many good features in the current IOTC that produced officers who were proud of their achievements during the course, were well motivated towards their specialist training and had a high degree of teamwork and camaraderie. However, the research highlighted that the leadership style developed was predominantly control based, that the course had a strong assessment culture, a lack of standardisation in some areas, and that many graduates had an inability to relate to other ranks in general and SNCOs and WOs in particular. Furthermore, there was minimal use of IT and a lack of realism in some aspects of the training. At the time of producing the Report, it was evident that the current OACTU staffs had also noted many of the deficiencies and significant progress had been made in addressing the issues, albeit within the constraints of the current over pressurised course programme.

The new IOTC will result in an entry of up to 120 cadets every 11 weeks, providing an annual throughput of up to 540 cadets per year. Recommendation for graduation will be made at the end of the second term to enable the final term to be transformational in nature, thus allowing individuals to make the transition from officer cadet to Junior Officer (JO). The new course will also incorporate a revision of the organisational development (OD) of OACTU. The flight system that has traditionally had a JO flt cdr responsible for 8-10 cadets will change. Specifically, the flt cdr, supported by a FS deputy flt cdr, will now have responsibility for up to 30 cadets. Additionally, specialist training teams will be established, including a team responsible for leadership; instructors from this team will join individual flts for large elements of the IOTC, thereby ensuring that the 1:10 ratio that is so important for experiential training is retained. The revised OD will help decouple training and assessment. Moreover, an enhanced and integrated academic department will be formed enabling each flt to be allocated a tutor. The new department will incorporate an Academic Defence Studies Department comprising academics affiliated to an accredited university.

The concept of empowered leadership based on the principle of mission command will be introduced to balance the action centred leadership currently taught. The practical exercises will be designed on deployed operations scenarios with maximum involvement of the wider RAF and MOBs in particular. All aspects of physical education within the new IOTC will be redesigned as part of the integrated course design process being conducted by newly formed multi disciplinary teams. Cadets will have round the clock access to the RAF intranet and gatewayed internet in all domestic and training accommodation. Finally, the Review identified a number of concurrent initiatives affecting through-life officer development, including work linked with the RAF Leadership Centre, the Air Warfare Centre, the RAF Division, together with individual annual training requirements and preparation for OOA deployments. The Report recommended an urgent requirement to review the content and sequencing of non-specialist training and Command and Staff Training.

Following the endorsement of the OCTR report the Course Design and Implementation Team (CDIT) was established on 1 Nov 04. CDIT is empowered to take the vision forward and produce the new IOTC. This briefing note has been produced to provide information and an overview for recruits to the new course. It will also enable the recruiters to accurately brief potential recruits upon the proposed changes. It is worth noting that whilst general information has been included, specific course detail has been omitted due to ongoing design phase of the CDIT’s workstreams.

[DuckDodgers]

So a Regt job creation scheme then?

[Pontius Navigator]

TurbineTooHot,

I wish I had had an office sim.

I remember one lesson at school on the various stores forms. I guess we also did the service writing bit. Then, just 3 months out of the OCU I was the sqn adjt.

Couldn't spell adjutant at the time. First job was to draft a nominal roll. "What's a WHAT?"

We were 10 days out of UK with about 100 groundcrew and aircrew but no adjt, he missed the flight with a septic finger and I got joed. Then follwed 2 months 'proper' adjt work. "Boss, where do I file this TS signal?"

"Put it in a Secret file in the wooden filing cabinet, no one will dream of looking there." Boo Boom!

Same wg cdr who 'secured' a SECRET UK EYES document in a zipped aircrew holdall under his bed in Aden.

Those were the days.