The beginings of Confederation’s training policy, was workshoped on April 12, This policy, when devised, will be to provide support for clubs who will retain responsibility for training their members.
Such support may include:
| •circulating the new competency standards |
| •circulating training materials, probably based on the standards |
| •developing a code of practice and model manuals for leaders and members |
| •providing information about training resources, geographical knowledge and areas of club expertise. |
The workshop, attended by some 40
representatives of affiliated clubs, laid the ground draft after
discussion, of the results of Confederation’s 1996 training
survey.
The need for a training strategy has been accelerated by the publication by The Outdoor Recreation Council of Australia’s (ORCA) controversial new competency standards for leaders of outdoor activities.
These standards, still not embraced by many in Confederation, are seen by others as providing a convenient benchmark to measure the skills of club leaders. Once the standards are finalised, it is foreseeable that land managers and underwriters of club public liability policies may adopt them as a minimum requirement for leaders of group activities.
Confederation continues to reject the need for mandatory accreditation of leaders and instead promotes adherence to minimum standards or accepted practice with a view to minimising the incidence of claims based on negligence.
The new training policy, to be implemented by
the new training sub-committee, help to provide opportunities 
for leaders to access appropriate
training to enable them to comply with accepted practice.
During the workshop, there was considerable discussion about Confederation’s role in the provision of training courses, such as leadership skills, first aid and train-the-trainer, as well as the issue of fees for participants and payment for trainers. This matter was not resolved and will be taken up by the training committee.
Mechanisms for minimising the workload of the training committee include using existing resources wherever possible, encouraging clubs to nominate a Training Officer and share information directly and providing basic resource information to clubs who can keep it up to date.
Throughout the day participants returned to the need to keep the training strategy simple - after all, everyone really just wants to go bushwalking.
Lucy Moore
The Sydney Bush Walkers