A Diary of Fear
A few months ago, I signed up to join the Kennel Club Accredited Instructor (KCAI) scheme. Having paid my money and completed the simple sign-up, I received a chunky pack of papers – forms, guides, introductions and explanatory notes – none of which really helped me to overcome the state of frozen fear that I rapidly entered when faced with the first major hurdle for all would-be Accredited Instructors.
The APL form – it stands for Assessment of Prior Learning – has been designed to enable you to provide a detailed picture of what you know and don’t yet know about dogs, dog owners, dog activities and dog instructing. It is intelligently broken up into different areas of knowledge and experience. It sensibly asks you to rate your experience and your underlying knowledge independently. It is colour coded and has useful notes to help you find your level (1-10) in each category.
It is also capable of paralysing the most confident and experienced instructor into total inactivity. At least that was my experience. Clearly, there was going to be more to getting accreditation than I had prepared myself for up to that point. After a few weeks of “thinking about it” but doing rather little, I came to a decision. As the form showed no sign of completing itself, I would have to confront my doubts and get something down on paper.
So I have now started filling in the dreaded APL form, and after much deliberation have completed my scores for three sections. That’s three out of ten. That’s in Section A – just Section B and Section C to go after that. Why has it taken so long? In the hope that it may help others interested in embarking on the KCAI scheme, I want to try and answer that question. More than that, I plan to write about my experiences of working through the scheme on a regular basis, no holds barred, telling it like it is.
Why? Partly of course because I’m an altruistic and generous human being. Partly to follow the advice of fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey: “Unbosom yourself. Trouble shared is trouble halved”. And partly because, as I also work at the Kennel Club, I have been prevailed upon to do so, in order to create a little more awareness about the KCAI scheme. Needless to say, I have been given carte blanche to write openly and honestly about my experiences. You’ll find no whitewash here…
A few months ago, I signed up to join the Kennel Club Accredited Instructor (KCAI) scheme. Having paid my money and completed the simple sign-up, I received a chunky pack of papers – forms, guides, introductions and explanatory notes – none of which really helped me to overcome the state of frozen fear that I rapidly entered when faced with the first major hurdle for all would-be Accredited Instructors.
The APL form – it stands for Assessment of Prior Learning – has been designed to enable you to provide a detailed picture of what you know and don’t yet know about dogs, dog owners, dog activities and dog instructing. It is intelligently broken up into different areas of knowledge and experience. It sensibly asks you to rate your experience and your underlying knowledge independently. It is colour coded and has useful notes to help you find your level (1-10) in each category.
It is also capable of paralysing the most confident and experienced instructor into total inactivity. At least that was my experience. Clearly, there was going to be more to getting accreditation than I had prepared myself for up to that point. After a few weeks of “thinking about it” but doing rather little, I came to a decision. As the form showed no sign of completing itself, I would have to confront my doubts and get something down on paper.
So I have now started filling in the dreaded APL form, and after much deliberation have completed my scores for three sections. That’s three out of ten. That’s in Section A – just Section B and Section C to go after that. Why has it taken so long? In the hope that it may help others interested in embarking on the KCAI scheme, I want to try and answer that question. More than that, I plan to write about my experiences of working through the scheme on a regular basis, no holds barred, telling it like it is.
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| My (our) dogs |
