Step by Step to becoming a Pony Club NSW Instructor.

1. You must be a Pony Club NSW financial member 16 years and over.
2. Purchase the NSW Bronze Workbook. Click here to purchase.
3. Be confident around children and horses.
4. Have a Working With Children number.
5. Let your Zone Chief Instructor or Club Senior Instructor know you are interested in doing a two-day Instructors School. These are held by Pony Club NSW but are organised and hosted by the zone.  Also all schools are advertised on the PCNSW calendar.
6. Attend a two-day State Instructors school. These might be theory via zoom school and one day practical or two-day practical.
7. Complete the online Bronze Horsemanship certificate.
8. Work with a mentor to complete the teaching component in the Bronze book.
9. Let you ZCI know you are ready to be assessed.
10. Book in and do the assessment.

All paperwork in the Bronze workbook will be completed at the State Schools.  The worksheets must be completed before the assessment.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE PONY CLUB NSW INSTRUCTOR’S ACCREDITATION (NSWIA Bronze, Silver & Gold)

The new NSW Instructors Accreditation (NSWIA) is an update of the previous NSW Instructors certificates now meeting current industry procedures and standards. It will enable new instructors to become accredited and the Old System NSW Level One, Two Instructors and NSW Introductory accreditations to be merged into the new NSW scheme to just have one Pony Club NSW Instructors accreditation.

Under the new updated NSW Instructor’s accreditation, the certificates are now known as Bronze, Silver and Gold

The NSWIA is a very much reduced workload from other accreditations. Candidates will receive a high level of information and a more targeted focus on coaching skills and teaching groups of riders at rally days. However, the NCAS is still available.

The NSWIA offers a more condensed and targeted accreditation with more specific and relevant subjects for teaching at rally days. Pony Club NSW is very lucky to have three very highly trained and experienced EA Coaches/Coach Educators working for Pony Club NSW and with extra input from the Zone Chief Instructors we feel this accreditation will produce a more inviting but also more effective pathway to producing better Instructors.

It will also offer alternative ways to be able to complete the certificates either via hard copy or electronic/online, to be able to accommodate everyone’s preferred way of learning.

The Bronze workbooks are now in use and available to purchase via this link.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE OLD SYSTEM & NSW INTRODUCTORY CERTIFICATE TRANSFER.

Bronze is comparable to the current PCA NCAS Preliminary certificate. Instructors who currently hold an Old System Level One and NSW Introductory certificate holders will be moved over into the new scheme to hold a Bronze level Certificate. Firstly they must complete a two day State Instructors School and also complete the online Bronze Horsemanship certificate.

Silver will be comparable to the current PCA NCAS Level One certificate. Current Old System Level Two instructors will move across and  become a Silver Level Instructor after completing a two day State Instructors School and completing the online Silver Horsemanship certificate.

There will be more information about the Gold certificate in the near future.

Applications to be transferred over are application forms available via this link and must all be completed by the end of 2024.

There is no Pony Club Australia NCAS (Level 2) certificate currently available.

ASSESSMENTS: Candidates doing the new NSWIA and the PCA NCAS candidates will attend the same assessments. They will run as they are currently conducted by the State but the PCA NCAS will need to undergo one or two extra subjects to fulfil the National requirement.

All instructor accreditations in NSW Pony Club will now be assessed at a State level to achieve industry standards, consistency, inclusivity and wider availability.

After the Assessment

• You will find out your result on the day
• If you pass your assessment you will receive a letter and certificate
• You are added to the instructors list

For more information in regard to coaching and accreditations send an email to coach@pcansw.org.au

In order to maintain your accreditation coaches must fulfil a number of criteria and complete and submit a renewal form every four (4) years, please see the updating sheet below for details.

PRECEDING PONY CLUB NSW INSTRUCTOR’S ACCREDITATION SCHEMES

Pony Club NSW has been running under three separate Instructors Accreditations since the inclusion of the NCAS in 2009. Before 2009 NSW had its own Instructors scheme that is known as the “Old system Level One and Level Two”. It is long overdue to incorporate the Old System certificate holders into a more streamline system. The Introductory certificate is a NSW accreditation and was created as an alternative to the NCAS.

ACCREDITATION HISTORY.

At the November 2021 Pony Club NSW State Council meeting it was approved to have just one State Instructors Accreditation and one National Accreditation (NCAS), this was also voted on and recommended by the State Zone Chief Instructors committee.

NCAS: Previously, the last update of the NCAS Preliminary books was 2013. However, Pony Club Australia recently updated the NCAS Preliminary manual and work/log book so now the current version is 2021. It came into use at the beginning of this year (2022).

NSW felt that the updated 2021 PCA NCAS Workbook created a considerable increase in hours spent by volunteers in preparing and gaining this accreditation, where the increased time spent compared to the other available qualifications is not proportional to an increase in skill or knowledge. This increase in work creates additional burdens to already time-poor volunteers and for an organisation that relies heavily on volunteers this is not a sustainable way forward.

With the development of the updated NCAS and the current cumbersome NSW system of 3 accreditations it was proposed to come up with just one NSW accreditation that could fulfill the necessary requirements.

The new NSW certificate (NSWIA) will potentially see an increase in accredited instructors, this would then have positive flow on affects to the organisation by greatly improving our skill and knowledge base that would flow right down to the grassroots members. As our sport can be high risk, it is our duty of care to have well trained instructors and to support them, so we need to provide as good Instructor training system as possible without overburdening them and to encourage more members to become accredited so all clubs have accredited instructors in attendance at rally days.

NCAS (National Coaching Accreditation Scheme)

NCAS (National Coaching Accreditation Scheme) will still be available for anyone who wishes to do the National Accreditation. These manuals have to be purchased through Pony Club Australia but the NCAS workbooks can be purchased from Pony Club NSW.

Current NCAS certificate holders will still hold their NCAS certificates and can advance in this scheme. (Preliminary and Level One).