Devon County Council

Devon County Council is now an approved Independent Training Provider, which runs courses to train keen and enthusiastic individuals to be National Standard Instructors. Historically, cycle training was only available to children and was operated by Local Authorities in schools. Now cycling and road safety organisations have joined together with the Department for Transport and Cycling England to create a new National Standard for Cycle Training. This includes training for adults as well as children; it is road basedwith real traffic scenarios under safe supervision.High quality training from fully qualified and accredited instructors will develop competent and confident cyclists who have the skills to safely manage all road and traffic conditions.

The National Standard, accredited by the Cycle Training Standards Board (CTSB) is an educational framework that has been developed specifically for the delivery of high quality cycling instruction. The Instructor Training Course is the first professional qualification available for individuals to deliver cycle training to this National Standard. Once qualified, training can be given to complete beginners or advanced road cyclists, individuals or groups, adults or children, anywhere in England.

The Cycle Training Standards Board (CTSB) is the curriculum and standards body that oversees National Standard Cycle Training. It has strategic responsibility for the maintenance, development and accreditation of the trainee standards, instructor standards, and accreditation of Instructor Training Providers and training schemes.  The CTSB is overseen by Cycling England. It is Executive Committee made up of UK cycling organisations, and has set up a number of working groups made up of cycle training experts. For further information go to www.ctsb.org.uk

Course Structure

The initial 4-day course is a mixture of classroom-based learning and practical activities, to practice and show competence in each of the 3 levels of the National Standard.  Assessment is carried out on a continuous basis. Participants who successfully complete this part of the course will receive a provisional pass towards full accreditation.

The second stage of the course involves a period of post-course assessment, which must include an element of on-road training. Participants who have passed all of the assessment criteria during their monitoring will be verified as an Accredited Cycle Instructor, and their details held on the CTC National database.

Course Requirements

How to become a fully accredited National Standard Instructor

1. 4 day National Standard instructor course
2. Provisional pass
3. Post Course Assessment
4. Full accreditation
5. Letter from Devon County Council
6. Certificate from CTC

All participants must:

Be able to cycle competently and confidently and have recent, preferably regular, experience of a variety of modern traffic conditions

Understand current principles and theories of safe cycling or express a willingness to learn

Be friendly, tolerant and outgoing and able to empathise with problems the clients may experience

Possess good organisational skills

Be good listeners and have good communication skills

Be able to stay calm in all situations

Be punctual, reliable and trustworthy

Course dates are:

16th-19th December 2008

19^th-22^nd January, 2009

16^th-19^th March, 2009

18^th-21^st May, 2009

27^th-30^th July, 2009

Course venue: DDC, Westpoint.

The cost of course is normally £450( lunch included) at present we have a number of free places avaialble for residents of Devon. Contact the Road Safety Helpdesk for further details contact rshelp.

There are also bursaries of up to £300 are available. Go to www.ctc.org.uk for more info.

There may be opportunities to work as a freelance cycle instructor in the Exeter and Exe Estuary area. For more information email: Cycleexeter@devon.gov.uk

Links:

Cycle Exeter

Devon Bikeability

Bikeability