Education Overview

The AWA has had a well designed instructional/coaching program since 1981. It has included competency based instructional levels and curriculum skills courses taught by instructors at the various levels. Leadership and Safety/Rescue courses address the all important issue of risk management within the AWA. In 1985 the Alberta Whitewater Association Program was merged and implemented in Alberta alongside the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP), which had a focus on competitive coaching development.

 Over the past number of years the NCCP has been responsible for the development of coaches. The focus of the co-existing AWA Education Program was on recreational instructor development, river leadership and river rescue. The AWA had three Instructor Levels and the NCCP had two.

The NCCP Program is a National Certification, but is not supported by insurance or membership in any paddling organization. Support comes through the AWA Programs of which the NCCP is a part of. All AWA certified instructors active in Alberta are required to be current members of the AWA.

A process was initiated in 2004 to re-examine and re-evaluate the existing AWA/NCCP education system. Initiatives were undertaken in Alberta to further move the process forward. In June 2006, provincial Instructor Education representatives of Whitewater Canada from BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, a national representative of Whitewater Canada and the Coaching Association of Canada met in Ottawa.

The goal was to develop a new model for Kayak Instruction which would: address the needs of the Provincial organizations for a more practical and comprehensive certification program; and integrate the required NCCP theory programs into the Instructor Courses (the ‘technical’ component) while addressing the requirements of the NCCP structure.

Participating provinces agreed to fully share all of their instructor and course materials which will be pulled together and reconfigured into a comprehensive Instructor’s Manual. This in its final form will be produced in both English and French.

The AWA took the initiative to begin instituting the proposed changes in the summer of 2006. The new Whitewater Canada program will be fully implemented in Alberta throughout 2007.