Training

For many years in recreational cricket there has been a serious shortage of umpires and scorers, especially those with any form of qualification. Devising effective training for these disciplines is challenging since, while they are practical skills, some degree of academic knowledge and understanding is also needed in order to discharge them properly. Even so, the emphasis in umpire and scorer training should be more vocational than academic.

The better, more accomplished and confident you are at doing something, the more enjoyable it is. Learning how to umpire to the best of your ability not only gains the respect of the players, it also makes the role more rewarding and, in turn, the day more interesting and enjoyable for you and for everyone else on the field of play.

IICUS training is based on current educational thinking in that it encourages people to learn these skills and to qualify, rather than disencouraging them by setting work that requires an English lecturer's facility with the written word to answer, coupled with forbiddingly high examination pass requirements. This certainly does not mean that IICUS training is easy. It is not. But it is more appropriate for today's learners.

Devising and developing effective education, training and assessment programmes for umpires and scorers is immensely challenging, not least because, while umpiring and scoring are practical skills, a certain amount of academic knowledge, learning and understanding is also needed. However, the thrust of umpire and scorer training is undoubtedly more vocational than academic. Instead of discouraging its Course candidates by setting assessments that require elaborate written answers, and establishing forbiddingly high minimum examination pass requirements, IICUS education programmes are based on proven teaching precepts that encourage people to want to learn these skills and to qualify. Many assessment elements are visual, using photographs, animations, and video sequences. They simulate match conditions; because cricket umpiring requires critical vision and the ability to assimilate unfolding action quickly.

'Passing and failing': This type of independently-validated training and assessment is based on the learner's successful achievement of all the required Learning Outcomes (the individual educational objectives) in the course. In this way it is far more rigorous than conventional 'pass-mark' systems, where a pass may be obtained even if a very substantial percentage of the work was quite wrong.