Glen Muller, chief traffic officer of the Grahamstown provincial traffic, is currently part of a training project for traffic officers at Eastcape Midlands College.
Glen Muller, chief traffic officer of the Grahamstown provincial traffic, is currently part of a training project for traffic officers at Eastcape Midlands College.
The officers will receive training over a wide range of both so-called ‘soft’ and practical courses through four phases of short training courses presented at Culturama outside Uitenhage by the college and specialist training partners, says Klasie Claassen, dean of occupational training.
The training is part of an Eastern Cape Department of Transport programme. Courses to be completed by the officers cover the fields of communication, advanced driving, computer skills, the law, firearm training and first aid.
With 2010 in mind, the officers will also attend courses on diversity management. “All the modules are integrated, so the diversity management includes verbal, non-verbal and written communication.
We want the officers to understand that different nationalities have their own body language and ways of expressing themselves – and to still be able to communicate,” said Claassen.
The officers will attend blocks of courses over the next three years. Four training organisations are involved in the training: Eastcape Midlands College is responsible for the theory and managing the training; the Advanced Capacity Training Academy is involved in the driver and other practical courses; Falcon Firearm Academy for the weapons courses; and Preserve Life will tackle first aid.
“By working together, we are able to offer training as comprehensive and as good as anywhere in the country. A number of municipalities have also started talking to us about handling their training for them on a similar basis,” says Claassen.
The courses will be tailored to meet the specific needs of the Provincial Traffic Officers.
In the case of provincial traffic, the training includes aspects of firefighting, disaster management and “basic motor vehicle accident investigation” which has been added because provincial traffic officers are often first on the scene in the rural areas and do not have immediate back-up from police or firefighters, Claassen says.
Training will also be adapted to suit the learning style of the traffic officers. Psychometric “brain profiling” tests are done on the first day on all the officers to determine whether they are left or right-brain dominant.
“People who are left brained learn differently to those who are right brained, and in order to ensure we deliver the best results we can to province, we have undertaken the testing before the courses begin to stream the candidates into classes which best suit their way of learning,” says Claassen.
The course is being accredited with the Safety and Security Sector Educational Training Authorities (SETA).
