SPA, CWLA, CWA

Its been a week of Assessments broken up by the trip with Keith up Curved Ridge. I ran an SPA Assessment last weekend for 3 Candidates. We visited Neilston Quarry, Glasgow Climbing Centre and Auchinstarry (which was busy with other groups- lots of youngsters throwing shapes on the rock). Despite the showers it was good to see all 3 Candidates put in a creditable performance and pass.
Yesterday I was at Three Wise Monkeys Climbing Wall in Fort William to assess 2 of the staff on their CWLA. This is a great Award with the opportunity to do some real coaching and requiring a good level of judgement of the students involved. We had a team of volunteers who were taught by Oli and Dan and again it was 2 for 2 passes.
Back to Three Wise Monkeys today for CWA Assessment for 3 of the staff. Nice to see some good sessions for groups at different levels and another 3 passes!
I provide all of these National Governing Body Awards through Mountain Training Scotland who moderate our provision to ensure a standard of training and assessment. This makes such Awards the most rigorous way to prove competence when it comes to walking/climbing/mountaineering Instruction and Leadership. An Award holder has been trained and assessed by an experienced peer/someone with a higher award under a system that is quality assured. They have demonstrated a minimum standard of personal ability/knowledge and experience in the activity and the system gives everyone reassurance as to the base line of their competence.