An Interview With A Classmate

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What Nathan Do...

Nathan is a full-time instructor with BCRTC (BC Rapid Transit Company), also known as Skytrain. 


He trains new employees and eventually certifies them to become qualified Skytrain Attendants.  He's the guy you can blame when a Skytrain runs really slow into a station and the doors seem to take an eternity to open.  That's a trainee! 

I'd love to drive a Skytrain myself, actually, so I'm probably just jealous of the trainees. 

He mentioned that he is a "hostler", and because I love trains of all kinds, I knew what that meant!  A hostler moves trains around the yard for regular railroads.  

Or maybe horses?  I guess that's the origin of the word.


Background

Nathan has been an english instructor (ILS), invigilating exams for ESL learners, getting an english certification for various reasons.  He wanted to become an english teacher, but then got a job at Douglas College, then got a government (Skytrain) which paid way better than a teacher, so that ended his teaching career (at least in schools).

Now he uses his teaching chops to teach new hires in conducting and hostling.


Trends in Training at Skytrain

1) Shifts

One of the current issues is how they work their shifts.  

Work rest rules... "refer to legal or policy-based guidelines that regulate how much rest time a person must receive between or during work periods to ensure health, safety, and productivity."  What this translates to at Skytrain is a limit on overtime, and is sometimes considered an “overtime ban”.

However, there are more people to train, so (as I understand it), this either:

  • lowers the bar on training quality, as they need attendants to keep everything running safely, etc.
  • delays the training of properly trained attendants.


2) Memorization over Understanding

One of the problems is that in teaching the new hires, some don’t get the reason why they have safety procedures.  They just try to memorize everything.  

The problem with that is not knowing the undelying reason for a procedure or rule means that forgetting one thing could be dangerous, whereas if they understand the reason for the rule, the potentially dangerous situations are less likely to occur (or be forgotten). 

Basically, a deeper look into a process is a safer one.  Things like:

  • Standard procedure on suicides… understand WHY we say certain things over the radio.
  • Why we disable safeties on equipment (track intrusion, power, ground straps, work with control over the radio, single track, bus bridge)


Trend Implications

What implications will these trends have for the way you will instruct over the coming years?

Some things that will change:

  • Relying less on quizzes and exams.
  • Lareger weigh on practical exams – like oral exams.  Flying with a trainer.  Learning by DOING to get a feel for the role.
  • Dilemma: O/T ban vs hands-on testing


Final Thoughts

Final thoughts: what will you need to do to prepare for such trends?

Skytrain needs to hire more instructors, but with the overtime ban, instructors are de-incentivized.  Teaching is a gateway to promotion, though, so maybe that door being open will bring in more instructors.  

It will surely help Nathan.  I hope this PIDP program helps him toward that cause, and also maybe help teach the new hires more effectively, givem the cognitive science we have been doing lately!

Good luck, Nathan!

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