Comparing the standards of Ski Instructor qualifications.
Vložit
- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Today we address the comparison of ski instructor exams and what the levels actually means. We look closely at the confusing that is created as different associations from around the world apply different criteria to their exams. When is a level 2 a level 2? Can we trust the standards?
00.00 Intro
04.00 Lets talk Level 2
12.00 European recognised
19.30 Outro
#skiinstructorexam #skicourses #learntoski - Sport
randomly stumbled onto your podcast and am so impressed by your content and discussions on skiing related issues。(this podcast as well as a podcast on the best instructors might be those who learned to ski as adults, i agree with the premise that adult skiers learning to ski would probably me better of if their coach learned to ski as an adult, maybe a retired pro-tennis player turned skier😊)。ignoring the important useful things in both this and the other podcast, i am soooo impressed by paul‘s superb command of the (almost british accent) english。going by his knowledge about skiing and the intelligence shown by mastering a foreign language (i know, u europeans speak 3-4 languages), i think that i would benefit a lot by taking lessons from paul, even when he uses politically incorrect but truthful hardhitting coaching/criticisms
😊😊😊。too bad that i have no plans yet to ski in europe。 best of luck to the both of you and i will search for other podcast by the both of you。cheers ! guten tag ！
ps: i am a recreational skier who started in his mid 30s and have skied for 40+ jahres。i continually take lessons and my current coach is psia level 2 who learned as an adult。have taken lessons with olympic gold medalists, demo team members, examiners, level 3 coaches and my current coach is the best yet, in my opinion。because he learned as an adult, has empathy with me and MOST importantly, HE CARES ！
Ski Instructor Level is important but what is most important is how well an individual instructor can quickly adapt their technical skills and teaching ability to each student or group of students. Most students do not care what each instructors "level" is. What they do care about is how well each instructor will be able to help them improve. One size does not fit all. Although ski instructor levels can be confusing across associations. Most students do not care. They just want an instructor they can connect with and learn from.
well said!
An interesting and thought provoking discussion which always confuses. Most definitely a minefield.
In my experience instructing in Canada, the US, and Japan the higher levels of certification will most definitely warrant a higher p/h rate but I've worked with plenty of instructors who are not at the higher level of certification (myself included) who get more work and higher overall seasonal pay because they're able to communicate the learning to the student far better than some higher qualified instructors.
In ski schools with a request private lesson system, the student / customer determines which instructor they want to spend the day with.
That's a combination of ability; the ability to communicate learning; empathy; and customer service.
Thanks for the in depth answer! I did my Anwärter/Landes 1 with SIA in 2016 and was just wondering how they are seen in other countries. Got a job easily in Hintertux this winter so I’m happy with the Austrian qualification - Marcus.
I would be interested in doing my Landes 2 but I’m not sure if it’s within my reach this season after having taken a couple years off. If I do it I would definitely invest in training beforehand.
Can I just say on the subject of coaching...
AMEN!
I come from a background of coaching other adventure sports, and was shocked by the standard of coaching and the lack of acceptance of coaching knowledge in the ski industry when I started. It was and still is focused so much on the hard skill performance.
I am now a level 3, pursuing level 4, and whenever I take part in an update I just have to bite my tongue. There is a distinct lack of "coaching" theory involved in the ski industry and it leaves instructors lacking on the hill.
Now, don't get me wrong. I also think that something that IS good in the ski instructional world is build a really strong epistemological backbone for the sport that your delivering. Having the hard technical skills is a definite asset in the sport we are involved in. We need to be able to demonstrate and inspire. In addition having a greater technical understanding allows us to focus the eye, analyze better and understand about the cause of the challenges our clients face.
However, as an "adventure sport coach", (which is what I categorize ski instruction as) we have to where many hats.
In a high end team sport for example, you wouldn't have a single coach. There would be multiple with focus on different aspects of the game. A strength coach, a tech coach, a tactic coach a sport psych etc.
Our clients need us to be all of those rolled in to one. There is too little of these other aspects built in to ski qualifications and it often shows in the product delivered.
I'm sure we have all had to be a psychologist on the slope at some point!
Whilst it's not perfect, the system that UK paddlesport uses is going in the right direction. You can gain a higher level "coach" award alongside a "performance" award. For example, you can be the equivalent of a level 4 "coach", but a level 2 performer. This could open up a huge amount of opportunity for people like you just mentioned and the industry can reap the benefit of having people with extensive backgrounds in pedagogy and andragogy to call upon.
Thanks for another interesting conversation and great points you made. I'm surprised to hear about the BASI level 3 having a reduced number of participants for you. I wonder if the same could be said for other countries higher level awards? There seems to have been a slight move to close the gap between the level 2 and 3 in Canada.
We will need to follow up on your comments. Thanks.
Can you explain in detail the issues with ISIA and certain countries leaving the organization? Obviously not asking for any secrets or confidential information, but just the basic details which would help people when making decision which certs to get? Obviously no one wants to go through the process of getting certified for an organization which may not be recognized in the future.
I think we will need to further kook into this.
This was an interesting and quite confusing episode. I have an international exam (that I took already in 93) in the Swedish system (an ISIA exam that was the highest possible level at the time) that you had to work for during several years to get.
How does a Swedish ISIA compare according to you. Is that considered to be a high or low ISIA?
Let’s us do a follow up on this one.
Within the EU there is a requirement for mutual recognition of each member state's professional qualifications. So how do Austria regard French, Italian, Irish, etc. ski instructor qualifications relative to their own? And pre-Brexit how did they used to regard BASI qualifications relative to Austrian ones?
Let us do a follow up episode on this topic as it is intriguing
The only test of an instructor is the evidence of how well and how quickly a student becomes a really good and really happy skier at any level. The level is irrelevant if the instructor is already a great skier himself and has a really good experience in analysing body movement and how it works to have best result. I do believe that a skier should be a very experienced skier and a good one, before embarking on any training to becoming an instructor. Since the opposite situation is the common one, all great skiers over generations, have continually ridiculed the ski style adopted by instructors ....and use " skiing like an instructor" as a pretty universal, quietly spoken insult worth huge belly laughs among great skiers..... As a great skier myself, and as someone who has maybe 30 000 hours of fitness and movement instruction under their belt, I have to say that most instructors in any domain are mostly inexperienced themselves, have no experience to guide them, parrot popular misconceptions and errors in physical realities that spread like viruses in any instructor community, made stupidly worse by an increasingly centralized dogmatic form of brainwashing people to believe basic stuff that is completely wrong. As I watch instructors today almost universally tell newbie skiers to do about 75% of all postural steps completely wrong, guaranteeing absolute loss of balance and control, and loss of interest in the sport, I have only increased my contempt of Professional Ski Instructor Associations. As I witness the complete absence of any proper pole handling instruction at any level .... Commencing with the determined instruction of beginners to adopt bad and wrong use of their poles right out of the gate, which is almost impossible to later correct at any level .... I am disgusted. There is no such thing as a good skier who has zero idea of how tomuse his poles to immensely enhance ability at the sport. Skiing has lost 2 generations of solid expertise and knowledge and people have gone backward in instruction capability. Only skiers who have somehow avoided formal instruction completely and are just out having a lot of fun have any hope of becoming great skiers themselves. And when they observe the BS being taught beginner and intermediate skiers today by Ski Instructors, they cannot stomach the pretense that would be involved in keeping their mouths shut about the wrongness of much of what is taught ....and would never be able therefore to endure the teacher training long enough to pass a single level ...especially never the lower levels. I teach skiing ... If after an hour of instruction, I cannot see for myself that the skiing level of my student has not doubled ..or significantly improved.... I am a failure. 99 percent of ski instructors seem to be failures as far as I can see on every mountain I visit. With some exceptions.
Paul.....where did you get those pipes ? You a stone mason ?
Me! A stone mason haha! ;)