Global Aviation Training Office Activities
Recognition of Training Organizations
Membership Assessments
The Global Aviation Training (GAT) Office conducts assessments of training organizations to analyse their capability to become a Member of the TRAINAIR PLUS Programme (TPP), ICAO’s cooperative network of training organizations. A key element of TPP lies in its networking and course exchange mechanism, which is only achievable if all Members use the same approach in course development and share minimum quality criteria set by the Programme. Assessments provide a clear and independent view of a training organization’s operations and highlight critical areas requiring improvement. In 2016, a total of 27 assessments were conducted, including 16 re-assessments and 11 new assessments.
Number of assessments by year (Cumulative)
Number of assessments by year (Net)
TRAINAIR PLUS Programme Network Composition
TPP is implemented in 69 Member States with membership comprising 93 Civil Aviation Training Centres (CATCs) — nine of which joined in 2016 — under the following four categories: Associate Member, Full Member, Regional Training Centre of Excellence (RTCE) and Corporate Member. TPP members develop and share ICAO-harmonized training packages which are listed in ICAO’s comprehensive
GAT catalogue. The Programme will continue to grow by welcoming additional members in 2017, enabling the network to exceed 100 members.
Membership progression since the start of TPP
Training course development
In 2016, a total of 31 ICAO-harmonized Training Packages were developed, as follows: four ICAO Training Packages (ITPs) and two Regional Training Centre of Excellence ITPs were jointly developed with the Incheon Airport Aviation Academy (Republic of Korea) and Dublin International Aviation Training Academy (Ireland) in the area of Aerodromes; two Compliant Training Packages (CTPs) were completed by the Servicios y Estudios para la Navegación Aérea y la Seguridad Aeronáutica (Spain) and the Civil Aviation Training Center of Korea Airports Corporation (Republic of Korea) in the areas of flight safety and safety management, and security and facilitation; and 25 Standardized Training Packages (STPs) were completed by TRAINAIR PLUS Members and validated by the GAT Office for their compliance with ICAO’s
Training Development Guide, Competency-based Training Methodology (Doc 9941). Validated STPs cover the areas of air navigation services, flight safety and safety management, aerodromes, and training competency development.
Development of ICAO-harmonized Training Packages per year
Training programme implementation
Delivery of ICAO-harmonized Training Packages and participation of trainees in ICAO courses
In 2016, 263 ICAO-recognized courses, including online courses, were delivered globally to an estimated total of 3 407 trainees. The increase in the number of trainees compared to previous years is largely due to the enhancement of the TPP network and the introduction of new ICAO courses.
Training at ICAO Regional Offices
In the second half of 2016, the GAT Office, in collaboration with Regional Offices and the Air Navigation Bureau, trained Regional Officers to become qualified instructors in the Safety Management Training Programme across all ICAO Regions to support the implementation of safety management systems in Member States.
Training
partnerships
The Airport Management Professional Accreditation Programme (AMPAP), an innovative partnership between ICAO and Airports Council International (ACI), has proven to be a resounding success in establishing a global standard of excellence in the field of airport management. The programme now counts hundreds of participants from numerous Member States, and 118 trainees graduated from AMPAP in 2016. Other joint training activities between ICAO and ACI included the delivery of the Aerodrome Certification and User Charges courses.
The Government Safety Inspector (GSI) Training Programme was developed as a collaborative effort between ICAO and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in order to provide operations, airworthiness and personnel licensing aviation safety inspectors, on a worldwide basis, with uniform skills and knowledge to conduct specific safety oversight functions. In 2016, this training programme was integrated into the TRAINAIR PLUS Electronic Management System (TPeMS) and made available to the network. As part of the activities carried out, eight new GSI instructors were qualified and 207 students were trained through 17 GSI courses delivered worldwide.
ICAO partnered with the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montréal to collaboratively establish a Management Certificate in Civil Aviation. The programme’s first certificate in Strategic Management was successfully launched and completed from 12 September to 21 October. Two other certificates, Human Resources Management, and Business Planning and Decision-making, will launch in 2017, eventually leading to the attainment of an Executive Certificate in Civil Aviation Management upon successful completion of all three certificates.
Online courses
The GAT Office, in collaboration with ICAO Bureaus, TRAINAIR PLUS Members, and partnering organizations offered ten online training courses through the Learning Management System. The current ICAO online training portfolio comprises the following courses:
a) Performance-based Navigation;
b) Air Transport (Statistics, Economics and Regulation and Forecasting);
c) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme;
d) Safety Management System; and
e) Training Instructor Course – Part I.
Over 650 trainees benefited from these courses in 2016, which were taken at their own pace. Many of these online courses are a prerequisite to the classroom training programmes offered by the GAT Office. Examples of such blended courses launched in 2016 included Safety Management for Practitioners and Aerodrome Safety Management.
Enhancements to the TRAINAIR PLUS Electronic Management System (TPeMS)
The TPeMs, which currently hosts procedures to apply for TPP membership, to develop or host a course, and to register trainees, underwent upgrades in 2016 to meet the demands of Members. New features will be introduced in 2017, including feedback forms, surveys, enhanced intra-membership communication links and the streamlining of current electronic procedures.
Training events
The annual Aviation Training and TRAINAIR PLUS Global Symposium was held in Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 11 to 13 May, and attracted 760 participants from 70 States and international organizations.
Moreover, two Regional Course Developers and Instructors Standardization Meetings were designed and successfully conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, and Bogota, Colombia. These meetings, which attracted 180 participants from 40 States, were convened to promote and enhance training effectiveness and efficiency and provide a unique platform for training professionals to exchange best practices to address their training challenges.
Participants attending these interactive events gained pragmatic solutions for the implementation of ICAO’s competency-based training methodology in their training centres, in order to enhance their capacity-building locally and regionally.
Customer survey results
A post-training evaluation methodology comprised of a series of surveys was developed to evaluate the impact of training on trainees and on their organizations. A methodology to evaluate training effectiveness for level 1 (Reaction) and level 2 (Learning) was established in 2016. Survey results from this methodology are being used for future course improvements. The assessment of level 3 (Behaviour) is currently being applied to selected ICAO training courses and will gradually be implemented for all ICAO-harmonized courses starting from 2017.
Review of fees
With the increase in TPP membership and expansion of course development activities, membership and validation fees of STPs were decreased, ranging from 5 per cent to approximately 40 per cent in 2016. Other fees are continuously being reviewed to enable TPP members to engage in additional course development and delivery activities.
Revision to the ICAO Aviation Training Policy
On 25 May 2016, the Council of ICAO at its 208th Session approved revisions to the ICAO Civil Aviation Training Policy to reflect that TPP financial activities are ring-fenced, thus ensuring that any surplus generated would remain within and be used solely for TPP activities and projects, while revenues and any surplus generated by other GAT activities could be used to support organizational priorities and Strategic Objectives.
