Have to source some training for school but there seems to be a few, is the SMBLA 'the one' and what about the National Mountain Bike Leader Award??

Ideally they need to be run pretty close to Sheffield

thanks

What/who does your school lea recognise? no point doing something if not recognised.

do a forum search. someone posted a good breakdown of how long it will take you to become qualified.

what is it you are actually wanting/needing to teach/coach?

Would BC Bikeability not be more appropriate or is it pure mountain biking?

CTC also do a good skills course.

Generally SMBLA is "the" one afik. Simply because Jim Riach of Scottish Cycling/Cycling Scotland and Greg Knowles of D&G outdoor education along with Glenmore Lodge outdoor centre got together to create SMBLA mainly at that time for teachers and people working with kids. This became a mast have quali post the childs death on the south coast whilst sea kyaking. After that incident all outdoor activity qualis were reviewd and mtbing being very new at that time had slipped through the net and there were no qualis around for it.
Again for your history lesson Rik of Drumlanrigg has SMBLA number 1 cert and if I had registered I would have had number 2(or maybe 1)

Speaking with my work hat on (as a recruiter of mtb guides for an adventure travel company) I would say that there isn't one definitive award at the minute, and that SMBLA, CTC and MIAS schemes all have good and bad points. I would consider candidates applying to work for me with any of the three awards, but would consider the amount of additional experience/skills they had too, and wouldn't base a decision solely on their qualification.

I should perhaps point up some bias in that I'm working my way through the CTC Leader Trainer course at the minute, so would obviously promote them pretty strongly! They're also based in Sheffield, which might be the deciding factor.

Their website can be found here: http://www.promtb.net/

See, I'm all very confused, I keep being told SMBLA is the one, but I'm more interested in teaching than just leading. Which makes me think the CTC route might be better as you are able to then teach using their Wheelies Award and Right Track schemes.

I've emailed One Planet Adventure, plus I've emailed Ian Warby and Dan Cook of the CTC, I've had no responses and I don't know what to do!

Teaching? Maybe you should look at http://www.bikeability.org.uk/

As an mtb leader I am involved with this group;
http://bikingheaven.com/stepping_stanes/
Most of the others are Level 2 BC/SC coaches because that is what the Go-Ride scheme requires.

I also do cycle skills on a voluntary basis with schools via lea active-schools co-ordinators having gained the Scottish version of bikeability;
http://www.cyclingscotland.org/educationandtraining.aspx
I did the 4 day course which means I can tutor others.

I do agree with you GaryLake, it is all very confusing and needs tidying up imo.

See, now I'm even more confused with Bikeability being thrown in, to clarify, I'm looking to instruct mainly adults to Mountain Bike with guiding thrown in.

I'm not a school teacher, nor looking to work with schools.

Thanks guys there's alot to look at there, where i'm coming from is i'm a secondary school teacher and have for the last year run a bmx club at the local skate park after school on fridays, this has been pretty successful and the school have asked me if i can 'expand' things, so i'm looking at mtb which is my first discipline. There's also some money that's turned up for equipment but some has to be spent on training so that's where my enquiry started.

Basically i'm looking for a qualification that will enable me to take small groups of kids into the outdoors to ride bikes and hopefully get them into it, oh and to be a rewarding course for me too.

Speak to your lea outdoor ed people first

It will be at least a year before you get a SMBLA trail cycle leaders cert.
Basically you need to log your rides, 20. Get onto a course, 2 days I think. Log another 20 rides. Arrange an assesment.

You may be able to find someone local qualified and willing to help you get started this year as I did with the club I help out with. They will need to be crb`d to allow them to work with kids. You will be limited in the number of kids you can allow to attend. TCL=6

You will need a first aid cert and register with BC

Gary – If it is teaching/instruction in mtb you're interested in then CTC is excellent. I think Ian has been away for a bit, so he might be catching up on his correspondence.

If you can get hold of Richard at AllBikedUp (click my profile) he should be able to point you in the right direction. You need separate leader skills to take groups off into the wild – depends where you intend operating, and with who.

swisstony – As most have said you need to find out what your LEA will accept. It doesn't really matter which course is 'best' if your LEA won't recognise the qualification.

FWIW, whilst I was in the RAF I used to help out with a local air cadet squadron and I looked into taking an MTB instructor course so that I could take cadets on an AT activity other than walking about the hills etc.

After much hard work trying to find out which course they would accept (and therefore provide insurance cover for) I was basically told they would accept whichever course the RAF PTI branch recognised. After a whole load more digging about the general opinion seemed to be that the MIAS course was the one as this was the course I could claim my fees back for through the learnig credit scheme the military have. This opinion didn't seem to be based on the content of the course (although its not a bad course) but rather on which course had been approved by the powers that be as the one I could claim for!

Thanks guys, my school isn't in the LEA as we're an academy but i'll certainly check out if they have any preferences.

The CTC course looks the most promising as it's very local to me so i'll get onto them.

ta

glenp: cheers, I've been speaking to Richard (as a result of trying to contact you actually). I'd be operating in the southwest so Bristol/Somerset, Quantocks, Mendips, Dartmoor, Brecons and then the South West Trail centres too. I assume some (if not most) of that would come under separate leader skills? And what do you class as separate leader skills?

I just need someone to give me a list of courses I need to do!! LOL