NCRC
Board of Regional Coordinators Policy, approved Feb, 18, 2006
Education
Committee
Operating
Policies and Procedures
1.
Objective
1.1.
The role of the Education Committee is to implement the Education
mission of the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC) as stated in the NCRC
By-Laws, and/or as determined by the Board of Regional Coordinators.
This includes the development of education policy, curriculum and
standards documents that relate to the education of cave rescue personnel
and certification of NCRC instructors.
1.2.
The Education Committee shall foster the development of technically
sound standards, instructional curriculum, instructor certification
programs, guidelines and test methods for cave rescue personnel, as well as
being alert and responsive to new technologies and the developing needs of
the public and private sectors
as related to
cave rescue.
2.
Organization
2.1.
The Education Committee (EC) shall consist of the national
coordinator, the training coordinator, the medical coordinator, the database
manager, and four members-at-large. EC
members should attend committee meetings, and be available to serve on
subcommittees.
2.2.
Each EC member shall have one vote for the purpose of voting their
position on all EC matters.
2.3.
The Education Executive Committee (EEC) shall direct and manage the
Education program of NCRC. The EEC shall consist of the Training
Coordinator, who shall act as chairperson, the National Coordinator of the
NCRC, who shall act as vice-chair, and the Curriculum Coordinator who is one
of the at-large members, appointed by simple majority of the EC members at
the first EC meeting of each calendar
year.
2.4.
Subcommittees:
2.4.1.
May
be established by the EEC.
2.4.2.
Subcommittee
Chairs will be appointed by the EEC.
2.4.3.
Any interested EC member may join a subcommittee.
2.4.4.
Non-EC
members and other
interested parties may participate with the approval of a simple majority of
the EC.
2.4.5.
The EC
shall review subcommittee rosters annually and, based on the report of the
chair of that subcommittee, recommend additions or removal from the
subcommittee roster.
2.4.6.
The Training Coordinator shall maintain a roster of subcommittee
membership.
2.5.
Subcommittees will have the following duties:
2.5.1.
Prepare and/or review documents within their scope.
2.5.2.
Assure that the required reviews of documents within their scope take
place.
2.5.3.
Assure proper procedures are followed.
2.6.
Standing subcommittees are:
2.6.1.
Curriculum
subcommittee – Responsible for the development and revision of curricula.
2.6.2.
Instructor Certification subcommittee – Responsible for the
development and revision of instructor certification/recertification
policies and procedures.
3.
Responsibilities
3.1.
The EC and the EEC shall use procedures that maintain the principles
of openness, consensus and due process. This includes conducting business in a transparent manner,
being receptive to dialogue with non-members as well as with any party
interested in any EC document or technical subject.
Discussions of personnel matters will be handled in executive session
and all documentation of a personal nature will be kept confidential
according to the NCRC privacy policy.
3.2.
The EEC is obliged to assure that all activities and information are
unbiased, accurate and disseminated in a timely manner.
3.3.
The Curriculum Coordinator shall maintain complete records of the
development process of all EC Documents and track the status of each
document through development. The
National Coordinator shall also maintain a current copy of all documents
once finally approved.
4.
Meetings
4.1.
EC Meetings shall be held annually and at the call of the EC chair.
4.2.
Notice of
EC meetings shall be sent stating the meeting’s place, day and time; and
mailed, emailed or faxed at least sixty (60) days prior to the date of the
meeting to all EC members and EC subcommittee participants of record.
Agendas shall be sent out at least thirty (30) days in advance. Meetings may be called with less notice providing that all
members agree in advance to such a meeting and to its specific agenda items.
4.3.
Subcommittees of the Education Committee should meet in conjunction
with EC meetings whenever practical but may have additional meetings as
needed.
4.4.
Notice of Subcommittee meetings and an Agenda for that meeting shall
be sent stating the meeting’s place, day and time; and mailed, emailed or
faxed at least ten (10) days prior to the date of the meeting to all current
subcommittee
members.
4.5.
Subcommittee meetings may be called on less than ten (10) days notice
with the approval of all members. Agendas
for such meetings not including all members shall be fixed in advance.
4.6.
Any meeting may utilize a contemporaneous communications system in
which all participants in the meeting can communicate with each other; and
participation in a meeting by this system constitutes the presence of the
participant at the meeting.
5.
Types of Documents
5.1.
Curriculum: A document set including overall course objectives,
lesson plans and supplemental training material designed to meet the course
objectives.
5.2.
Standard: A precise statement of a set of requirements to be used in
the development, testing or delivery of knowledge, skills or abilities.
5.3.
Terminology: A document related to standards having definitions and
explanations of terms, words, abbreviations, symbols and acronyms.
5.4.
Test Method: A definitive procedure that provides for the
identification, measurement and approval of one or more qualities,
characteristics and properties of knowledge, skills or abilities.
6.
Information Dissemination
6.1.
Education documents that have not received formal, final approval by
the Board of Regional Coordinators shall be conspicuously marked as follows:
This document is not approved by the
National Cave Rescue Commission. It
is under consideration within the NCRC Education Committee, but has not
received all approvals required to become a NCRC Education document.
It shall not be reproduced, circulated, or quoted, in whole or in
part, outside of NCRC EC activities.
6.2.
Subcommittee reports should be given at each meeting of the Education
Committee. If the subcommittee Chair or his/her representative cannot report
at a meeting, a written report shall be sent to the Education Committee
Chairman.
6.3.
Notice of EC activities, including status
of EC document
projects
and subcommittee activities, should
be carried in the NCRC newsletter, on the web site and such other
communication channels as appropriate.
7.
Dispute Resolution
7.1.
Recognizing that the differing interests of members may lead to
conflicting opinions on technical matters, it shall be the responsibility of
the EEC to attempt to resolve disputes that occur within the activities of
the Education Committee. Failing
this, the EEC will prepare, or have prepared by the applicable
subcommittees, an objective report on both sides of the issue, for
resolution by the Board of Regional Coordinators.
Members involved in any such EC dispute shall be notified of the time
and place of the Board of Regional
Coordinators’ meeting
where the dispute will be included on the agenda for resolution and may have
a representative attend.
8.
Document Creation and Review Process
8.1.
Any member may petition the EEC to undertake an
Education document
project that is
consistent with the objectives of the NCRC Education Program.
8.2.
Approved projects shall be assigned to a subcommittee by the EEC.
8.3.
The assigned subcommittee shall develop the Education document for
approval by the EEC for EC ballot. A simple majority of the subcommittee is required for
submission to the EEC.
8.4.
Upon approval of the EEC a ballot shall be sent to all of the EC
members.
8.5.
The ballot shall provide for the following voting selections;
Affirmative; Affirmative with comments; Abstain or Negative with comments.
Negative votes
without written
comments will not be considered. Ballot
approval shall require 100% of ballots returned be marked affirmative,
affirmative with comments or abstain, and require at least a 60% return of
all ballots.
8.6.
The ballot may be sent and cast by email.
In the case of a ballot with comments, a copy of the comments must be
submitted via email to be considered.
8.7.
The subcommittee shall review all non-affirmative votes and comments
and determine if comments are technical or editorial.
A quorum of at least 60% of the subcommittee members, as determined
by the roster shall be required to review the non-affirmative votes.
8.8.
Editorial comments found persuasive will be implemented.
8.9.
The subcommittee shall determine if a negative vote is persuasive or
non-persuasive. If negative
vote is found persuasive the document will be revised and re-balloted.
If the negative vote is found non-persuasive the subcommittee shall
prepare a written response to the EC member casting the negative vote.
In addition the subcommittee will request a confirming simple
majority vote of the Education Committee at a scheduled meeting to uphold
the non-persuasive ruling. If
the Education Committee finds the original negative voter persuasive the
document will be revised and re-balloted to the EC.
8.10.
If re-balloting is necessary, return the document to the subcommittee
for preparation.
8.11.
If re-balloting is not necessary, the
document shall
proceed
to the NCRC Board
of Regional Coordinators for final review
at the next BORC meeting.
9.
Board Review Process
9.1.
The Training Coordinator (Education Committee Chairperson) shall
report the final consensus ballot and draft, along with files, to the Board
of Regional Coordinators, on their next meeting agenda, for their approval.
Negative comments reviewed by the EC and found non-persuasive shall
be included with the final submission to the Board of Regional Coordinators,
along with the reasons for non-persuasiveness.
9.2.
Upon ratification by a
simple majority of the
Board of Regional Coordinators, the approved version will become the master
document for use as required.
10.
Records
10.1.
The Education Committee Chairman shall cause records to be kept as
follows:
10.2.
Activity/Status Log: Individual Education documents.
To include:
Title and number
Subcommittee responsibility
Original date
Draft number and date
Approval date
Review date
10.3.
Project files: For
Education documents
File will contain progression of documents through approval processes
(ballots, votes, provisional drafts, Negative votes, negative comments and
the disposition of them, etc.)
To be kept at a location determined by the BORC.
10.4.
Work done at EC meeting by attendees or via electronic means
10.4.1.Permanent
copy: To be kept by NCRC office both electronically and in hard copy form
for use in distribution.
10.4.2.
Roster
of current members of each subcommittee.
11.
Review Period
11.1.
The EC shall review all Education documents at least every five (5)
years.
11.2.
As
a result of this review the EC shall:
11.2.1.Re-ratify
the document or
11.2.2.Return
the document to the EEC for referral to a subcommittee for updating or
11.2.3.Propose
the elimination of the document, as obsolete, to the BORC.
12.
Report to BOG
12.1.
The Training Coordinator shall make a full report on Education
activities to the NCRC and the NSS Board of Governors via the National
Coordinators report to the BOG at least once a year.
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