International recognition

There has been a number of interesting developments at international level, which build on the previous excellent work in developing a rigorous accreditation approach and positioning IASI to be able to offer as wide a range of options for members in terms of development and career pathways, as possible.

IASI has been working with the Department of Education Training and Skills, the EU and our peer organisations in the EU to develop a professional card system for Europe. This card will result in Ski and Snowboard instruction becoming a recognised profession which will be of great value to our members who wish to work in Europe. The aim of the initiative is to allow certified instructors to transfer qualifications between organisations in Europe and to have them recognised in each member state. The EU will provide a mechanism for matching and validating the qualifications issued by bodies through the IMI (Internal Market Information System) and IASI is a recognised authority for this system. 

IASI is now certified to issue the ISIA card which is the highest level of certification issued by ISIA. See page 2

In addition, IASI has been invited to send a representative to an upcoming ISIA workshop on Mountain Safety in Davos, Switzerland. This invitation allows us to represent our accrediting system and influence how our system will be recognised by ISIA and the Board is hoping to be in a position to send a representative to attend. 

Level 1: New Format

The Board is delighted to announce that the Ski Level 1 training and assessment will be offered once a week over 10 weeks, starting Spring timeframe. The course will be delivered by Dublin based IASI instructors and assessed by them in conjunction with our Head of Training, Derek Tate. This is in direct response to suggestions during the member consultations last year about how to adapt our courses to encourage greater access and continued participation. More details on course dates etc. will be forthcoming. 

Membership cards

For any member who has paid their subscription and for whom we have a photo on file/received a photo, you should have received your membership card for the 2012 season by now. If you have not received a card, it’s quite possibly because we do not have your photo or have we received your membership subscription. Please contact Tom  if you’ve any questions.

Courses

With the new year came a great snow dump across Europe, in perfect time for IASI courses scheduled between Jan and March. All courses are well subscribed!

 The Level 3 Tech Training took place last week in a new venue for IASI - Campoulec, Italy with Duncan Adamson. On 29th Jan the Level 1 Off Piste training will take place in Chamonix with Robbie Fenlon, on no doubt great off-piste conditions. 

From 18th-23rd March, the Level 3 Tech Assessment will take place in Mayrhofen. We are delighted to announce that a Personal Performance Course will also run in Mayrhofen from 18th-23rd March, the details of which and booking is already up on the website. These courses will be delivered by Pete Gillespie and Ali Smith respectively.

Freestyle

The Board is finalising details to shortly announce a follow up to our previously run and successful Snowboard Level 1 Freestyle Course with a Level 1 and 2 course for Snowboarding AND our first Ski Free Style Level 1 course, which should take place in Ireland and possibly in the UK at Hemel Snow Centre. We are aiming to offer both free style disciplines around the end of April/start of May, forming exciting new developments for IASI. These freestyle modules have been developed by our technical Sub Committee in conjunction with our lead Snowboard trainer, ex British team Coach, Gavin Learmonth, and for skiing, Mark Shaxtd, Canadian Freestyle and Instructor Trainer.