Agm/egm 2014

[Jimbo]

I have been tasked with delivering a Basic Beemaster Course this year which is going quite well. We have 17 participants on the course. The course is split into 6 sessions with a practical weekend at the end of the course. The Basic Beemaster is designed for beekeepers who have kept bees for a few years so should be familiar with opening hives and looking inside. Instead of delivering all the sessions I recruited a number of older and experienced beekeepers. One of the things I noticed is the variety and quality of the delivery of the course. So at the AGM I suggested that the Education Committee look at something like a training for trainers course. It was pointed out that this had been done but very few people had taken up the offer, but if you look at the cost you can see why. It may be possible to run a simpler course based on the instructions in the course in a case on delivery and learning outcomes for the trainers.
The second suggestion would be for the SBA to produce a list of people who would be willing to travel to other associations to help deliver a session on a course ie people who have attended a trainers course. The list could be put in the Secretary handbook similar to the list of speakers willing to travel to associations

[Kate Atchley]

The second suggestion would be for the SBA to produce a list of people who would be willing to travel to other associations to help deliver a session on a course ie people who have attended a trainers course. The list could be put in the Secretary handbook similar to the list of speakers willing to travel to associations

Good suggestion Jimbo. Maybe Gavin would take it to the committee?

[Jon]

It is a tricky issue though Jim as those who volunteer will not necessarily be the ones you would want beginners to get advice from.

this could be structured into a course with certificate at the end, I'm sure it would be very popular and far more meaningful than the prelim course currently running

Phil
That could well be what develops, but those running it would need to be paid for their time as it would be a lot of work organising a course and supervising it.
Practical beekeeping needs to be run by good bee handlers and those who can teach the skills as opposed to people who hold the intermediate certificate or whatever.
There are people who hold the FIBKA intermediate cert who have had little or no exposure to bees or none at all in a few cases I know of.
Locally a load of people failed the exam last year so maybe the bar has been raised.
Even so, there is still next to no practical element in it so I would say the exam is asking the wrong questions of those taking it.