Length of courses

[24/7]

Out of interest, what are your views on the length of a CP/PSD corporate course.Is two weeks to less,is a month ok, is this a standard or should it be more? What is the minimal time and what is the maximum time we should spend on the basic's.

[bakids]

My persomal view on this is that 2 weeks is not enough, but many people are governed by work etc and 2 weeks for many is the most time off you can take in one block. I think 4 weeks is prob a better time frame. I have just done a 2 week course and was fine with it and learnt everything they needed to teach, but if i was to do it again i would def opt for longer.

ba

[24/7]

ba, my view is also ca 4 weeks or more but as you said time/money is always a problem.You said that you learned everything THEY needed to teach you but did you get what you wanted or could it have been more?I dont mean to turn this into an Anorak question mate but just out of interest.

[praetorian550]

I think-
Entry level
3 day RPO Course- for statics ( my clients insist on this now)
1 day FA Course

2 week sia CP(UK)
4/5 day- UK FAAW/FPOS

Development
+ 4 day Defensive Driver (UK)
+ 5 Day PHTLS- OpMED Course (UK)
+ 4 day Counter Surveillance course (UK)

Psd (not my remit)
+ 2 weeks minimum weapons and HECPO type course
+ EMT+ Type Med Course

Its not as perfect template but its a balance of costs/time versus skills available and standards - I should say that some courses are procluded by companies/clients who have had poorly trained students from them. Time itself is not a good factor for monitoring training.

[James Mc]

Mate,

A longer course is better, you have more chance to get sorted out anything you are unsure of, more chance to practice the practical skills & to get your projects & orders correct.

On a slightly different point, if you have the chance of doing a longer course,i would suggest you are better doing it as you may find you are learning a great deal more subject matter, such as FAAW so you dont have to look for another course.

James Mc

[annie]

Well the standard requirement is i believe 150 hours (correct me if i am wrong someone).... I did mine over 21 days, but i also had firearms so i'd say knock of 4 days there for travel to Sweden and back and the time sniffing cordite) so more likely 17 days. I know what you are saying about people having work commitments and family ones too, and i was a single parent at the time and finding child care for 3 weeks when your whole family think you have lost the plot isn't easy. That aside personally I don't think that 2 weeks would have been anywhere near long enough at all. Yes they can cram you with what you need to pass an exam in 2 weeks, but you need practice and you need to be out there doing wealking drills and radio drills and the like, and you need to be doing a bit of everything really. 4 weeks to me sounds like a great timescale, but again i respect the fact this adds to cost and it adds to problems with other commitments.....however technically when you finish and get the licence you are part of a team that is responsible for the well being of someone life quite possibly, and that being the case those serious about it should find the time, work around the commitments and be available to spend a good long while at the training. I would have got a gold A+ just for the childcare plans i had to make as trust me it was a logistical nightmare, BUT that being said i was serious about what i wanted to do and i pulled out all the stops to get me on that first rung of the ladder, and it did pay off. And another few weeks would have rendered me disowned by all my family no doubt, but yes i feel i possibly could have benefited

[DarkHorse]

Good info J

DH

[24/7]

Thanks for your views, although I have done the four weeks CP, HET, HRT blaa blaa courses, speaking to my fellow collegues here in Germany some of them would raise there eyebrows on how short the courses were.Things here seem to be around three months of training going into depth mostly in the area of threat assessments,Planning,Armored vehicles in's and out's,Mental awareness, how to win contracts, basically alot more paper work/studi.
I have had a few arguments on this subject and I am a great believer on the hands on method learning by doing then being in the class room, although knowledge is also agreat asset.

[jmaccauley]

I understand the standards are different with different regulatory entities. For the agency I work with, there are standards based on X number of hours for each topic. My problem with that is the priority of training topics. For example, spending only 8 hours on driving is absurd. Obviously, unless this is a review, it is unlikely that new skills will become ingrained or even remembered, long after the session has ended. On the other hand, a class may consist of professional drivers who merely need a refresher class and perhaps a standards test.

My point is, we get hung up on length of time and therefore either drag out redundant material or zoom past things that we need to work on.

I would rather have shorter classes more frequently. It's like training for a marathon by running a few marathons and never developing the weak areas. Having basic, intermediate and advanced levels allows a student to actually use what they learned before having more information crammed into them in teh time allotted.

For the student, I understand that it is more convenient to jump in and get it over with, but test most of them 3 months later and see how much they have retained.

Jerry

[Kiwi PSD]

Hey there,

This is individual I believe, everyone has different learning levels, most trainers work to the lowest common denominator (LCD) in the course, some people get it after a day some after a week. Remember on average it takes 3500 repititive moves for the brain to complete it on instinct. I think whatever courses you complete you have to continually strive to improve from the last course. Start Basic get it down...then Adv...get it down...I think it's called Professional development......All good...All good Boys & Girls

Stay SAFE