CPD for the Instructor

This week has been one of the busiest so far this year which is fantastic with 2 CPD courses in a day and a 320 mile round trip leaving at 6am and back at midnight! 

The first was my annual First Aid Instructor license training in Leicester.  Once again it was fantastic hands on training with a brilliant training instructor and other first aid instructors.  It was a long day but it was fun and if anyone knows what my sense of humour is like on adult courses then you would feel sorry for the instructor!!!  I passed, but even more impressive is NOTHING has been updated in the First Aid world since last year!!!!

Then to Derbyshire to see my mentor Bushcraft instructor.  Now I say CPD as that was part of the meet up.  To go over the evidence for my Accredited Practitioner qualification.  But doing this while walking in 23 acres of the National Forest did not seem too bad!!  Walking from area to area, checking out a Yurt and this was my work for the evening.  Then lots more chatting over the evidence in a Derbyshire country pub eating freshly foraged wild food!!!   

Ingredients – Wild Cod, foraged Pisum sativum & Solanum.  (Fish & Chips with peas)!!!! 

Last week I also undertook CPD with an outdoor education coach from the Institute of Outdoor learning.  Driving up to Hertfordshire I was able to think of all the things still needed at the new area.  I had a 3 hour coaching session and on the way back I had loads of time to work out how I was going to describe in words something positive about why I am good at teaching Bushcraft (min 300 words required).  I will never ask anyone to tell me something positive about themselves in the same way again.  On courses I often ask what the candidate thought went really well.  I often add so many more positives for them and then I realised it’s a really hard question.  I am still working on that part of the essay, I’ve been told it’s not a hard question it’s just difficult to answer.   

This week Back to Basics Bushcrafters CIC have trained 603 children.  I am so very happy that this has been achieved so quickly and looking back over the week it has been so very rewarding and I have learnt that I would like to reach more people each and every week.  However I will not be able to do this on my own and I am looking at either franchising Back to Basics or training more outdoor leaders to provide more Bushcraft courses.  Finding the right people and training them so they can deliver first class courses will be a long process but I believe it’s the only way forward.  If anyone know of anyone suitable that could train to deliver outdoor education please tell them to get in touch.  If our clubs are going to continue growing as they are we will need more volunteer leaders to help run the weekly clubs that meet. www.bushcrafters.club/joinourclub  Thinking about it the volunteer leaders could be our next instructors, now that’s a thought!!  

This week it has been one of those weeks in which the weather is just behaving.  I have been sunburnt, coldish and soaked!!!  The sun burn is something I will give more thought to.  I am very used to being outside and developing a nice tan, however the people i train with don’t get out so much and may well be suffering.  Bushcrafters CIC needs to think about this seriously as we are taking them out to get a top up of vitamin D not sunburnt.   

A Youtube video has been uploaded to help in lessons when the weather is horrendous or I can not demonstrate first hand because of the time of year.