Firefighters and Officers at the Airport Fire and Rescue Service have continued their busy training schedule throughout last week. Three courses were run concurrently at their Fire Station by highly experienced instructors from UK based BAS Training Associates Ltd. which has many years’ experience of teaching within the fire sector.

In the first instance a group of 8 Firefighters, Leading Firefighters and Sub Officers successfully undertook both a Level 3 Assessing Competence in the Work Environment (ACWE) and a Level 3 Award in Educational Training (AET) course, with a particular focus on the Fire Service environment. Having undertaken the ACWE and AET training means that these individuals, all of whom are already specialist skills’ instructors, can now both teach and also conduct formal assessments with their recognized Skills for Justice (SFJ) accredited qualifications.

This is particularly relevant when monitoring firefighters’ performance, assessing their knowledge and understanding to demonstrate that they are competent in a particular skill. The process also serves to provide appropriate feedback for an individual’s development following a variety of identified assessment methods, ultimately to demonstrate their competence.

The second course comprised a group of another 5 Officers undertaking Internal Quality Assurance Level 4 (IQA) SFJ accredited qualifications. This centred around understanding the principles and practices of Internally Assuring the Quality of Assessment. IQAs ensure that the standardisation of assessment and other work practices are maintained and that these activities are planned and conducted in a consistent, safe and fair manner.

The AFRS already operates around an electronic data tracking system to record and monitor all aspects of its tasks and operations. This extends from daily record keeping of activities, equipment maintenance and testing routines, to instructional presentations, and tracking of the learning and assessment process. The IQA is therefore a vital asset for ensuring the organisation is adhering to best practices when it comes to assessments, so it now acquires another very useful component to further meet its compliance requirements.