SKILLS & TRAINING: WHAT IS THE FUTURE?

These days there are many issues troubling bushwalkers:
legal liability and the possibility of being sued; the need to make less impact in the bush; regulation by land managers; and the rise of commercial guiding - to name a few. If we in the clubs do not all behave responsibly, we may one day face compulsory training and accreditation schemes. We might even see the demise of club-based walking.
The key to responsible behaviour is education. That doesn’t mean we all need to do a diploma of bushwalking, but we do need to be skilled - not only in traditional things like map and compass, but also in the latest ideas on party management and minimal impact.
Last year a survey was sent to all clubs, including the individual braches of NPA. The purpose was to find out what training is going on, and to ask how Confederation might become more involved.
The response was fantastic. Forty-four clubs responded, including 38 affiliated clubs (two-thirds of those surveyed) and 6 individual NPA branches. Both city and country clubs were well-represented. Many clubs mentioned that the very exercise of completing it had been valuable. Following is a summary of the findings of the survey.


Historic incidents
The first question in the survey was to probe the 'safety record' of clubs. And it appears from the response that we have an excellent record: though there were reportedly some 34 searches/rescues and one death in the last ten years, most of these (including the death) related to genuine accident, weather problems, etc. Only four incidents might have been attributable to leadership shortcomings.
Even if the number of incidents for all Confederation clubs was 60 (one per two months on average), this is small given the huge number of walks which clubs run - there are hundreds of club walkers out each weekend - and the high frequency of rescues going on in the bush generally. The number of potentially 'negligent' incidents appears almost insignificant.
The incidents should also be seen in the context of the thousands of person-days put in by bushwalkers during the same ten year period, through the Wilderness Rescue service.

Current training methods
The survey found that most clubs do not offer formal training for their members, though many provide informal instruction during activities. Many indicated that they needed to upgrade their training.
Some clubs do address training needs. Some hold in-house training sessions on various topics and skills, and others issue members with an instructional handout or guidebook. A quarter of the clubs take advantage of Confederation's First Aid courses. Some clubs have a person responsible for training, and one club has a whole committee which runs a 3-stage bushwalking course.
Consistent with the informal training approach, no club responding had formal requirements for skill levels for new members - except one which requires new members to do a First Aid course.
A few clubs have mechanisms for making an assessment of the suitability of prospectives before they qualify for membership. This usually means that prospectives have to satisfactorily complete two or three walks. Some respondents pointed out that responsible leaders should screen aspirants according to the demands of the particular walk.
Leader competencies
One club indicated that its walk leaders have to hold First Aid qualifications. That was the only instance reported where walk leaders had to meet a qualification criterion. (Another club stated that abseil leaders must pass an abseiling course, though as this activity was not specifically canvassed there may be other clubs in this category.)
A third of clubs indicated that the suitability of their leaders is judged informally during the programming process. Some rely on casual peer-observation of prospective leaders in the field, and in some cases new leaders are actually tested in the field by observation by a more experienced leader.
Two clubs mentioned that they encourage walk leaders to undergo First Aid training by offering 50% subsidy of costs.
Some clubs admitted that they 'took all comers' as walk leaders, and the only control likely to be exercised was reactionary - in response to adverse reports by participants. Another said the question of leader competencies was not relevant, claiming that its trips are led not by individuals but by consensus among experienced members.

What might Confederation do?
Almost all of the respondents expressed interest in some form of training by Confederation. The most popular suggestions may be summarised as follows:
1. There is very strong demand for regular articles on skills in The Bushwalker.
2. There is very strong demand for a model 'Operations Manual' for clubs, identifying common practices and standards for bushwalking.
3. There is strong demand from non-country clubs (defined as clubs in the Sydney-Wollongong-Blue Mountains-Newcastle area) for centralised weekend courses, particularly in First Aid (Senior and Remote), navigation, leadership, and emergencies. (There was strong endorsement of the courses which Dave Shepherd and others have been running.)
4. There is demand from country clubs for training packages for in-house use.
5. There is demand from non-country clubs for a directory listing volunteer and professional trainers, training organisations, texts and other resources.

Practicalities
It is all very well saying what Confederation should do, but without the people and enthusiasm to do it we are wasting our time. Nearly half the respondents provided names of people in their club (35 people in all) who reportedly have appropriate skills and a willingness to be involved in Confederation programs, mostly on a voluntary basis. Other clubs claimed to have suitable people but did not identify them.
Almost two thirds of clubs indicated they would be likely to accept a scheme wherein Confederation trainers were paid for their services, and clubs or trainees were charged for the training service on a non-profit basis. (The remaining respondents were split between those who were opposed and those who had no view.) There is, at the moment no push for Confederation to move to 'professional' training, but it is an aspect which may one day have to be addressed.

Where to from here?
It seems we could do more to help meet the training needs of clubs. But we still need to decide exactly what, who and how.

There will be a one-day workshop on Saturday 12 April, to come up with a strategy for future training by Confederation. It will also be an opportunity to hear about the latest developments in ORCA, and the new national Outdoor Recreation Competency Standards. Any member of a Confederation club with an interest in bushwalker skills and training is encouraged to attend. Further details are in the accompanying advertisement. Details of the training survey results will be available at the workshop.