samw
New member
I am starting this thread in the hope that I can catalyse some interesting debate about RYA course standards and participant feedback process. I have had some interesting email discussion with James Stevens (RYA Training Manager). I am interested in other's views on the subject. My suggestion to James was that the RYA establish a web site through which course participants could feedback on courses attended at RYA accredited schools. These responses could be stored on a database with results, and averaged participant ratings, visible to all interested parties. This might work like the Amazon.com rating system.
James in understandably reluctant to allow unsubstantiated comments to be viewed on a web site that is endorsed by the RYA. His suggestion was that bad schools would be investigated by the RYA. Whilst this ensures the minimum standard I don't feel that it encourages high standards. I think that my recent experience illustrates this.
I have recently attended a coastal skipper course. This was the third RYA training course that I had attended. The previous two (at JSSTA & Faro sailing school) had been very good so I had high expectations. I was not entirely satisfied with my experience on this latest course. There was nothing drastically wrong but I would not recommend the school to anyone else wishing to pursue a course. My main complaint was that we spent the whole week in the home port rather than making passages to the many interesting ports in the local area. I felt that this was because the boat on which we were accommodated was unsuitable to comfortably sleep all the participants on the course. The school has argued that there were other reasons.
On the flight home I spoke to another coastal skipper course participant who used a different school. He had spent barely any time during his course in the home port. This was more in line with my expectations. He, however, was dissatisfied with his course experience for another reason. He felt that his instructor had not pushed him enough.
I had great difficulty choosing between schools to take my course. I was originally interested in a school in another part of the world. It was only after discussion with the RYA training help line that I determined that some bad feedback had been received about this particular school. The school had been investigated and had been found to meet the RYA minimum standard but the lady I spoke to said that she would not choose that school if she were taking a course. I feel that this type of information needs to be made available to people choosing an RYA course.
In general I feel that some sort of feed back process needs to be established to encourage high standards amongst RYA training providers. Ideally results of this feedback would be shared with potential participants to help them make an informed decision between schools. Such a scheme would help the consumer as it would support decision making and would improve standards in the industry. I think it would also help the industry in general by stimulating demand for courses. Apparently the RYA are working on documenting in more detail guidelines on what customers can expect from a course. I think this will be helpful but is not all that is required.
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James in understandably reluctant to allow unsubstantiated comments to be viewed on a web site that is endorsed by the RYA. His suggestion was that bad schools would be investigated by the RYA. Whilst this ensures the minimum standard I don't feel that it encourages high standards. I think that my recent experience illustrates this.
I have recently attended a coastal skipper course. This was the third RYA training course that I had attended. The previous two (at JSSTA & Faro sailing school) had been very good so I had high expectations. I was not entirely satisfied with my experience on this latest course. There was nothing drastically wrong but I would not recommend the school to anyone else wishing to pursue a course. My main complaint was that we spent the whole week in the home port rather than making passages to the many interesting ports in the local area. I felt that this was because the boat on which we were accommodated was unsuitable to comfortably sleep all the participants on the course. The school has argued that there were other reasons.
On the flight home I spoke to another coastal skipper course participant who used a different school. He had spent barely any time during his course in the home port. This was more in line with my expectations. He, however, was dissatisfied with his course experience for another reason. He felt that his instructor had not pushed him enough.
I had great difficulty choosing between schools to take my course. I was originally interested in a school in another part of the world. It was only after discussion with the RYA training help line that I determined that some bad feedback had been received about this particular school. The school had been investigated and had been found to meet the RYA minimum standard but the lady I spoke to said that she would not choose that school if she were taking a course. I feel that this type of information needs to be made available to people choosing an RYA course.
In general I feel that some sort of feed back process needs to be established to encourage high standards amongst RYA training providers. Ideally results of this feedback would be shared with potential participants to help them make an informed decision between schools. Such a scheme would help the consumer as it would support decision making and would improve standards in the industry. I think it would also help the industry in general by stimulating demand for courses. Apparently the RYA are working on documenting in more detail guidelines on what customers can expect from a course. I think this will be helpful but is not all that is required.
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