Level One Course anyone done it??

A snowHead

Looking at doing the level one instructor course soon and wondered if anyone else one here has done it, if so any info for me or advice?
I've searched old posts and haven't been able to see anything relating to this course.

Any advice would be fantastic

Thanks in advance

A snowHead

Snowy23, Not in it's current format. I did the Club Instructor some years ago. I do have some documentation for the course but I assume this should be available on the SSE web site. If not let me know and I can forward it.

Where are you planning to do it ?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Snowy23, I'm totally out of touch with SSE, I likewise did Club Instructor the L1 equivalent, but back in 1991. Good luck.

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Snowy23, Any reason you are looking at SSE level one instead of BASI level 1?

I did my SSE 1 a few (6) years ago; and tbh it's very very easy to pass.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Snowy23, as mentioned above the course is not overly stressful, take a notepad and pen, don't be afraid to ask questions if your not sure about something and just go and enjoy.

Depending on what you want out of it, as scooby_simon, mentions, have you considered the basi one?

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Yes, I did my SSE Level 1 last year and I'm now working towards my Level 2. It's the best thing I've ever done for my enjoyment of skiing. It has meant (i) I ski a lot more than I used to; (ii) that my own skiing has improved immensely; and (iii) I really enjoy teaching others and passing on the enthusiasm for skiing that I have.

I would say it is straight-forward rather than "very very easy". There are a lot of skills to pick up that were new to me, and just being a competent skier isn't enough to pass.

My club ran a series of training sessions to get people up to the standard before the official course and assessment and this was incredibly helpful. If you have a local ski club that will support you then I would definitely try and do it through the club rather than independently.

SSE require a minimum of 20 hours teaching experience between the course and the assessment, but treat this as a minimum. I think I did around 60 hours and this paid dividends. I got to see a much wider variety of instructors and different levels of pupils' ability, learnt far more tricks and exercises, and really started to understand how to analyse a skier and work out what they're doing wrong and how to find a suitable exercise to correct it.

Others have questioned why you're not doing BASI L1 instead. For me it was because my club uses SSE and so it was far easier to go with that structure than work against it. But I can see with retrospect the benefits of the SSE approach. If you're aiming towards teaching on dry slopes as an part-time/amateur instructor with a ski club in the UK then SSE is perfect. It has, I think, more focus than the BASI equivalent on teaching rather than personal skiing, and it's aimed very much at teaching as part of a ski club. If you're aiming towards becoming a full-time/professional instructor working on snow outside of the UK then BASI could have some advantages.

But ultimately the two approaches are pretty similar, particularly at the beginning, and you can transfer from one track to the other without losing anything. I'm working towards my SSE L2 next and then will likely try for the BASI L2 as the week of tuition on snow in the summer seems like a great idea.

After all it is free

Spyderman: I think it depends who you talk to. I think the BASI L1 does cover more skiing skills than the SSE L1, but my impression is that the SSE L2 needs you to be a much better teacher than the BASI L2. I.e. they're different rather than one being better or harder than the other.

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kieranm, I've done SSE Club Instructor, SSE ASSI, SSS ASSI, BASI L2, CSIA L1 & L2. SSE L2 (ASSI) is comparable to BASI L1 in my opinion. BASI L2 is way above the skill level of SSE L2.

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Spyderman, SSE & BASI provide Coaching & Instructing qualifications. They are separate organisations with different approaches, and on the whole serving different markets.

I'm unsure how your perception of the technical skill required between different steps in the two schemes is helpful to Snowy23.

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Spyderman: your experience is obviously far greater than mine, so you could well be right, particularly if you're referring to skiing skill level rather than teaching skill level. But as you're referring to Club Instructor and ASSI I'm guessing you did the SSE qualifications a while ago. I know they have been recently redesigned so perhaps things have changed? I'm not really sure.

I think AndAnotherThing sums it up well - they are different.

You know it makes sense.

The level one SSE to BASI conversion no longer exists it got removed about 5 years ago as they were no longer similar in terms of ability! But you can convert a SSE level 2 (old ASSI) to BASI L1: http://www.basi.org.uk/content/refreshers.aspx

If you only ever want to teach at your local slope and only ever want to teach beginners (up to plough parellel) then SSE level 1 is for you : http://www.uksnowsports.co.uk/default.asp?contentID=624 (Level 1 Instructor Award trains and qualifies candidates to work with novice participants on artificial slopes).

If you want to do more; I'd suggest looking at the BASI pathway.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

scooby_simon, Or continue onto SSE Level 2, then Level 3 and then Level 4. Or pick and choose between SSE and BASI like many on here.

Certainly SSE L1, L2 and L3 is likely to be cheaper if done at a local slope as part of their Instructor training program.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies and all the information i shall go back through and have a good read of the posts and also follow up on the links.

The reason behind choosing SSE is my local centre works with SSE and for the time being seems the route that i would prefer to take and would enjoy teaching on the local dry slope. They also provide the instructor led sessions. Once i've qualified at level 1 i shall hopefully continue to progress towards level 2 and 3.

Thought it would be a good idea to get an idea of what the two day course is actually like from people that have done it. I like to feel prepared!

I agree with using the 20 hours teaching experience as a minimum i intend to get as much experience as i can from working with other instructors.

Is the two day course more of being taught how to teach or us teaching small groups or both. Is it more of an informative two days where you gain a lot of knowledge or is it more about how much you already know.

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Spyderman, Fair enough. I missed the context. Smile

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Snowy23, When I did my Club Instructor, I did a 16 week of 2 hours per week training course before the final assessment weekend, then 20 hours shadowing and first aid. I think the pre-assessment training course gave a really strong grounding that just the assessment course alone just couldn't deliver.

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Hi I've recently done SSE Lv 1. I have also done a day with Inside Out doing the preBASI L1 assessment day. Overall, I think the SSE L1 requires a slightly lower level and range of skiing skills but the two approaches did not appear that different. SSE is definitely more 'local slope' focused. I chose SSE as it was what my local dry slope uses, and it was lower in cost. I have little intention of becoming an instructor in the mountains, I just want to enjoy skiing and teaching, so the SSE is not going to 'limit' me.

As to what is involved in the 2 day course/test. It is a mix of teaching and skills. We took it in turns to 'teach' a section, say plough turning, to the rest of our trainees. We then had to feedback on each others performance as inctructors. They want you to be reflective and critical, to learn from each others strengths and weakensses. There was also some time spent on doing drills and having your own skiing technique analysed. Then there is the 20 hours to do, plus the usual child protection and first aid.

Best of luck.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

scooby_simon, But so does BASI 1 which was aimed at or below the old ESC club instructor.

The dryslolpe I work at (a bit) limit SSE L1 to beginners up to Plough Parellel and follow SSE advice that was as soon as a Client does a Parellel turn (intentional or otherwise); the client must be passed onto a higher qualified (SSE L2 or BASI 1 or more) for the next lesson. Roughly equates to Level 4 on the inside out scale (if you exclude the "snow centre" bit and replace "top of slope" with "first exit").
http://www.insideoutskiing.com/level.html

BASI 1 are limited to teaching up to, and including Parellel turns. Around Level 6-7 on the same scale.

What is/was ESC Club instructor?

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Level One Course anyone done it??

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