Training providers – it’s not about accreditation

I read with extreme interest the article wherein Jacqui Merrington stated that only accredited training providers should be used (FTW 11 October). My personal feeling on this is not so much the accreditation, but the quality of the learning material, plus, of course, that of the facilitators. There are many training providers in the field who are not accredited and yet are well respected. Some even refusing to become accredited. There are also those who are accredited and their material is not worth anything. I once saw a manual covering cargo insurance and the person who showed it to me thought it was the best thing since Pa fell off the bus. On glancing though it, I noted that it was completely out of date, having references in it to the old All risks, FPA and WA clauses which went out of use in South Africa in January 1982 when we started using the A, B and C Clauses. Cargo insurance is part of all freight learnerships and yet even accredited providers make use of material which is not completely up to date nor is it endorsed by the insurance market. It is one thing being accredited and completely another to have the full accredited material to teach the learners the correct facts. All I can say is, check out the quality of the material which is used by the provider and that of the facilitators to establish if they are the “fly by nights” or if they are worth their salt. So I say, choose your accredited providers who may not have fully legitimate material (even though it may be accredited) or go with a provider who may not be accredited but has excellent material and quality facilitators. Alexander Robertson, Logtrain International & Robertson’s Cargo Consultancy.