Increased support for “club instructors”
At the start of the new term of office (2021-2025), the Board of Directors wished to increase the support for club instructors, in line with the drive to strengthen training that has been under way for 4 years. This reinforcement has three aims: more resources, greater clarity, more support.
Increased resources
As for resources, the main grant for volunteer instructors working in clubs had been set for many years at €1 500. We are now raising it to €1 800. We are adding a grant of €500 when the training covers two classes of machine. This grant may come on top of the Human Factors training week run at the ENAC, which amounts to about 15% of the overall training. In addition, as another new feature, the Federation wishes to support club instructor refresher courses (which take place every 3 years over 2 days). This scheme will be split into thirds: one third each for the club, the Regional Committee and the Federation.
Clearer arrangements
This very significant effort on resources (more than 20%) comes with a simplification and better clarity of the arrangements for obtaining schemes that are often poorly understood. From now on, applications must lead to a prior contract between the instructor, the club and the Federation before the training is undertaken. This prior agreement is nevertheless very open, and the target group may, apart from the refresher course, include instructors who are already trained (for training on another class, for human factors improvement training, for example…). It is very important to involve all the parties and also to take account of specific cases. Grants are not just amounts but also tailored approaches.
The club project
An instructor training project is indeed built mainly on the club’s project. This takes forward planning, which unlocks many levers to strengthen the life of our clubs. An instructor for what? By when? On which machines? With what profile? On which classes? Whether the club is new or older, we all have an interest in setting development objectives and anticipating the resources, together with the Regional Committees and the Federation. Instructors are an essential link in the life of our clubs.
These new arrangements will be in place from 31 July. Given the significant costs involved, grants will be capped, but you can already contact the Federation to define your needs better. These new grants are a first step and we want to go further still. That, however, takes time and new resources.
Safe flying!
