Important Instructor Trainer Development Policies

General Policies

1. The Instructor Trainer Candidate (ITC) is a leader in the paddling community and must demonstrate above-average judgment in all matters relating to safety, group management and the health and welfare of all participants. The demands of the paddling environment make demonstration of good judgment an important skill for the successful completion of the course.
2. If an IT Candidate is eligible to be an Assistant on a specific level of Instructor course, then they can apply to the PDC to start the IT Development process for that specific level. The IT Candidate must complete all requirements for the specific level before they are eligible to receive final certification at the specific level.
3. Instructor Trainers must, upon certification at each level, teach a minimum of one (1) instructor course prior to accepting ITCs.
4. An Instructor Trainer Candidate has a maximum of four years from application acceptance to complete the instructor trainer development process.
5. To maintain the integrity of Paddle Canada course syllabus and the instructor trainer development process, apprenticeship is prohibited where certification from an outside organization is offered simultaneously to Paddle Canada certification (for example, a Paddle Canada course that also offers BCU, SKGABC, or similar certification).

Instructor Trainer Candidates

1. All IT Candidates must be listed as Instructor Candidates on the course registration.
2. Mentorship includes full participation and attendance on at least 2 Paddle Canada courses at the certification level being assessed. Refer to the specific certification level for any exceptions to this policy.
3. IT mentors may require the IT candidate to participate in additional mentorship courses at their discretion.
4. To ensure the Instructor Trainer Candidate experiences an appropriate level of group dynamics and shows competence in managing those dynamics, a minimum of 3 instructor candidates must be enrolled in all instructor courses where a mentorship is taking place. Courses with less than three instructor candidates will not count towards the number of required mentorships.
5. Any skills course used to meet the prerequisites for instructor trainer development program must also have a minimum of three students enrolled. Only courses that meet these minimum numbers will be recognized when the ITC applies to the Program Committee for admission to the program. For clarity, clinics do not meet the skills course prerequisites.

Ratios

1. The presence of an Instructor Trainer Candidate mentoring on an instructor course will increase the instructor trainer : candidate ratio by 2 participants. In other words, if the allowable ratio for an instructor course is 1:6, then it becomes 1+1:8 (with one IT Mentor and one ITC) or 1+2 : 10 (with one IT Mentor and two ITCs).
2. A maximum of two ITC’s are permitted to mentor on any course.
3. Only one ITC can count any particular instructor course as their final mentorship since an IT candidate must teach at least 75% of the overall course as part of their final assessment.