I have been working with the well known instructor Andy Newton today helping him provide a Mountain Leader Training course for well known chain of outdoor centres. Now for some instructors these centres serve as the ‘way into’ the career of instruction, however they often don’t pay that well, and the working conditions are often pushed as far as it is possible to do so and still be legal. The guys that work in this type of centre often only last a year or two before they move onto bigger and better things or exit the industry altogether.
I Work guys like these all the time, on training courses, and it got me thinking about the other ways into our industry which are to either pay for the training and assessment yourself and gain the experience by volenteering, or pay for a ‘Fast Track’ Scheme. Whereby a centre takes thousands of pounds off an individual and basically gets the people through as many qualifications as is suitable in the space of three to six months. Whilst these are enticing on paper, as well as lucrative for centre and even freelance instructor like myself who work on them. The reality of the situation is that despite having ‘paper’ qualifications, those who try and enter instructing this way often find they still have to go and work for one of the well known chain of centres like PGL, Manor, Acorn or Kingswood, and work for very little money to get the experience of working with real groups.
Ironically i have spoken to several centre managers over the years and not one of them would employ someone who had gone through a fast track scheme, as often what you get is an IT consultant that has learnt to jump through hoops to become qualified but who has little related experience in the soft skill of group management. Which begs the question of the validity of a Fast Track to Nowhere versus the apprenticeship of working for a centre that pays you very little but as a consequence does train you up for National Governing Body awards, and get you that hands on experience of with groups as you work.