National Standard in newspaper column

For discussions within the Cycle Training profession.
Post Reply
stork
Posts: 208
Joined: 18 Feb 2008, 8:19pm

National Standard in newspaper column

Post by stork »

The National Standard gets a good mention in my local paper here:

[url]
http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/columnis ... -1-4262407[/url]
John Holiday
Posts: 528
Joined: 2 Nov 2007, 2:01pm

Re: National Standard in newspaper column

Post by John Holiday »

Why are the Local Authority not offering National Standards Training like almost every other does?
Sounds as if you should be pressing your local councillors if you live in Norfolk.
stork
Posts: 208
Joined: 18 Feb 2008, 8:19pm

Re: National Standard in newspaper column

Post by stork »

John Holiday wrote:Why are the Local Authority not offering National Standards Training like almost every other does?


There is a follow-up article which I have seen in the print version of the newspaper, but which hasn't made it to the website yet. Apparently the question was asked of the Local Authority, and not answered.

Sounds as if you should be pressing your local councillors if you live in Norfolk.


I agree. I wrote to my councillor about it but I didn't get a reply. Maybe others will have more luck with their councillors.
John Holiday
Posts: 528
Joined: 2 Nov 2007, 2:01pm

Re: National Standard in newspaper column

Post by John Holiday »

The lack of response from the Council is extemely bad.
Something for CTC Head Office to take up?
xpc316e
Posts: 294
Joined: 5 Sep 2008, 11:10pm
Location: Bury St Edmunds, UK

Re: National Standard in newspaper column

Post by xpc316e »

You need to express your views to a chap called Iain Temperton at Norfolk County Council. He is in charge of road safety, and cyclist training is one of his responsibilities. He has taken up a position against the adoption of Bikeability, retaining the in-house system which uses volunteers at schools. I work in Suffolk and we were exactly the same, but we went to Bikeability a while ago and we now love it. If you ask me, it's a bit like kids saying they don't like certain foods when they have never tried them. I think the chief worry is that if they go for Bikeability and the plug is pulled on funding by the Govt. then they will have lost their carefully nurtured network of volunteers. In that case, they couldn't afford Bikeability, but would have destroyed their current system.
Riding a Dahon Jetstream P9 folder, an early 90s Vision R30 above seat steered recumbent, and the latest acquisition, a Haibike Sduro Trekking 4.0 electric bike.
stork
Posts: 208
Joined: 18 Feb 2008, 8:19pm

Re: National Standard in newspaper column

Post by stork »

xpc316e wrote:...I think the chief worry is that if they go for Bikeability and the plug is pulled on funding by the Govt. then they will have lost their carefully nurtured network of volunteers. In that case, they couldn't afford Bikeability, but would have destroyed their current system.


Thank you for the pointer. I can understand why they might be wary of changing their mode of delivery, even if just about every other council in the country has done so and is happy with that decision. (I would understand more if their volunteers were actually regular cyclists, when in fact many are not, and they advertise with pride that you don't even need to be able to ride a bike in order to be a volunteer for their scheme).

However, none of this excuses the main problem, which is that the content of the training is thoroughly inadequate. There's no reason why you can't use a volunteer network to deliver training which accords with the principles of observation, positioning and communication underpinning Cyclecraft and the National Standards.

The Norfolk instructor manual is here:

http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/view/ncc086466

Am I right in thinking that, at Level 2 at least, it's not quite on the same lines as the National Standard?
xpc316e
Posts: 294
Joined: 5 Sep 2008, 11:10pm
Location: Bury St Edmunds, UK

Re: National Standard in newspaper column

Post by xpc316e »

@stork

I have no personal knowledge of Norfolk's current scheme, but a look through the manual suggests that there are major differences between their offering and National Standards. Iain Temperton is a very keen motorcyclist and a passionate advocate of professional training for motorcyclists, so it is rather odd that they choose to go with volunteers who may not even ride bikes to train their schoolchildren.

All I can suggest is that you write to him, along with as many parents as you can muster, to register your dissatisfaction with what is being done for young cyclists in Norfolk. I suspect that Norfolk will find it increasingly tough to justify their stance against Bikeability as time goes on, but in the meantime it leaves young riders with a raw deal.
Riding a Dahon Jetstream P9 folder, an early 90s Vision R30 above seat steered recumbent, and the latest acquisition, a Haibike Sduro Trekking 4.0 electric bike.
stork
Posts: 208
Joined: 18 Feb 2008, 8:19pm

Re: National Standard in newspaper column

Post by stork »

Thank you for the comments and suggestions, I'll work on them. I'm meeting the head of my own local school tomorrow to discuss this. I'm hoping that, even if the local authority doesn't change its training, the school will withdraw from it and provide something acceptable instead.
John Holiday
Posts: 528
Joined: 2 Nov 2007, 2:01pm

Re: National Standard in newspaper column(Norfolk)

Post by John Holiday »

Having looked at how they are operating,am amazed that an Authority can operate something so far from National standards.
Some of the recommendations are just plain wrong!
Will be interesting to hear of outcome with local school.
Post Reply