iko is super outdated

Hi VWPete,

Not on the forum. If I find time tonight, I'll send you a PM.

Cheers mate,

DM

Great idea. Hopefully once you have it all worked out you will be able to offer it nationally.

This whole issue of an AKSA approved Australian standard for beginner instruction, instructor qualification and school accreditation has been a big ticket item on the AKSA wish list for longer than I have been involved with either AKSA or WAKSA. It will never happen with volunteer state reps who are already overloaded with managing the everyday functioning of our national association.
It is a move forward which MUST be taken on by those in the industry then handed back to AKSA for official accreditation.
IKO offer an excellent training program for both entry students and instructor students as well as a thorough prerequisite agenda for schools to be considered legitimate.
BKSA have an equally high level program covering all levels of kite instruction.
The problem is that IKO is a commercial entity which relies on profit making (like all businesses) to operate. BKSA is Britians equivalent of AKSA. It has govt funding as their accredited National Sporting Organisation so only requires break-even funding for any programs they operate - like school accreditation inspections.
It is a very simple exercise to cut & paste the best of the IKO & the BKSA (& others) programs to produce something for Australia which would hopefully improve on both in the final drafting.
BKSA reps were in Perth recently offering their full cooperation with a view to an Oz program being approved at national level which could also potentially be accredited by BKSA & IKO and many other international training organisations. This would mean that international recognition of OS qualifications could be mutually agreed allowing instructors to travel & work freely anywhere in the world. This has been a goal of the IKO since its inception. The commercial element is the big downfall there.
With people like Darren - and others who have already initiated the project - looking into a series of programs from beginner instruction right thru to school accreditation then it becomes a very simple exercise which, hopefully, will be widely accepted by the whole Oz kite school industry.
Huge thanks must be extended to the BKSA reps who came out in Jan. They offered advice and cooperation and showed just how straightforward and cost controlled an Oz program could be developed and made operable.

Hopefully by next season we will see an Australian, AKSA accredited program in place to bring some level of uniform professionalism back into the kite instruction industry.

I took the BKSA course and wanted my money back. The course was a total joke with no regard taken of local rules. Furthermore, I would not let any one the graduates in my class teach anyone I know.

The BKSA system is all about "promoting" kiteboarding and their schools. It is about getting as many people on the water as fast as possible in one big bad money grab.

Australia needs its own program, and who better to design it than Darren. Funding should come from AKSA and WAKSA membership fees. We Australians should be masters of our own destiny and not have anything to do with either BKSA or IKO.

AKSonline said...

Hi Gruezi,

Thanks for the support. I would like to make one thing clear. My goal is to work to provide a better option. For some people, it may be better to gain IKO or BKSA accreditation, neither will be going away any time soon and there is good info in both courses which is better than nothing.

I do not myself want to dominate or monopolise the teaching system, just offer an alternative. If AKSA wish to make it an endorsed system, then that's great, but the content will be freely available to all.

Thanks to all the emailers for the support.

Cheers,

DM

i agree with this i was once an iko instructor and still teach and i believe there is no need for more rules on who is running things ..

At this moment in time i'm sitting on the fence, i'm a ex iko level 2 instructor and still teach at present. I met Andy from bksa on the beach while he was here and although he came across very well, what bksa are offering is not even close (at the moment) to what iko can if they get there act together.
Now, the thought of Darren Marshall putting forward another option has got to be worthy of some serious attention, lets face it, love him or hate him, the guy knows his sh-t and also has the experience to back it up. I just hope some of the other senior instructors get involved !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just my opion, Tony

well i put foward a proposal to group together all the schools in asia under the kite safe association back in november and was interested in working with the BKSA or AKSA. i ran into a bit of a hurdle with the insurance side of things which was required by the BKSA. insurance is not easy to get in asia.
i have been working on some ideas with a friend of mine and we have put some stuff up on
http://www.kitesafeorganisation.com/demo/main.php
the main website will be
www.kitesafeassociation.com at this stage.
i initially did quite a bit of work on this project then high season started and it was put on the back burner. now i hope to have some more time to devote to the project. i have reps for most of the main kiting spots around asia. i hope to give anyone who has held an iko instructors licence for the last 2 years a new KSA licences in the coming months. i am hoping darren can provide some information so we can have some cross recognition.

sir ROWDY said...

I remember a certain shop a while back getting a lot of grief for not being "IKO certified" (even though they had better insurance and better lesson structure than IKO)... I wonder if everyone will now jump on Darrens case for not being IKO certified?...

p.s. I totally agree with Darrens moves and anyone else who does the same. IKO is the biggest load of sh!t ever.

Over it