NSW Assessor and Presenter/Facilitator Training Courses

Recently, Dressage NSW offered financial assistance to two members heavily involved in “recruitment” to attend the Assessor and Presenter/Facilitator Training Courses.  These were offered in partnership with the Australian Sports Commission and NSW Sports. 

The Assessor and Presenter/Facilitator Training Courses have been designed by the Australian Sports Commission to meet the needs of individuals who work as presenters or assessors in your sport's Officiating Accreditation programs.

The ASC recommends these courses as the minimum requirement for Assessors and Presenters working in the Officials programs.

I hope to be able to communicate further courses in 2018. Read their story on the course below.

"I’m an advanced-level dressage judge and judge mentor and also am very involved in the training of new dressage judges here in NSW.  One of the important roles as a judge mentor is to train and assess judges in a variety of situations.  I recently attended the NSWIS “assessor/presenter” course and was really impressed by the quality and intensity of the training.  We conducted role plays to practice our one-on-one assessment skills, and these were then assessed by the course instructors.  I was delighted by the number of great tips I got on how to conduct an assessment.  Whilst good news is easy to deliver to a candidate that they’ve passed their examination, it is a lot more challenging to have to advise them if they may be “not yet competent”.  Delivering such news requires empathy as well as sensitivity, and also being well prepared and confident. The presenter arm of the course was just as informative and really challenged our presentation skills, as we received individual assessment and feedback on our abilities to present to an audience.  As a business professional, I’ve had the opportunity to complete a lot of management and presentation training courses over the years, but this certainly has been one of the best I’ve attended.  This course will lift judge education to the next level and I applaud the EA for giving dressage officials the opportunity to improve their mentoring and training skills.  More education can only improve our sport! I am delighted that Dressage NSW will be looking into offering this course for judge mentors—I think it would be a fantastic advancement in our educational process."

Julie Jones

"I have been involved with dressage as a judge for over 20 years.  It's a passion that I hope will continue in my life for many years to come. Recently I was given the opportunity of attending the Presenter and Assessor's Course delivered by the NSW Institute of Sport.  I'm not normally one that rushes to participate in these things but I must say that it was a fabulous experience and I learned so much.  We live in a world where keeping abreast of communication skills is vital.  Being involved in sport as an official brings with it challenges that we need to address and this Course gave me more confidence and practical "tools" in how to deliver information at our judges Seminars and how to handle difficult situations in the field for the benefit of all concerned.  I hope to see many more dressage officials taking advantage of the next course of this kind and I thank the NSW Institute of Sport and Dressage NSW for this opportunity - and it was fun!!"

Sue Scaysbrook, National A Level Judge and Mentor