Answer

REDTRAC courses are not held in any defined Semesters but are held throughout the year. The Course Year runs in parallel with the Calendar Year and it begins with the assembly of the first course, no earlier than the second Monday in January, and ends with the dispersal of the last course, no later than the second Friday in December. (See attached Course Schedule & Planner.)

Answer

The REDTRAC Course Cycle begins in August of each year with the dispatch of the annual Course Letter and Course Schedule for the up-coming calendar year. The cycle continues with the issuing of a set of Joining Instructions, in turn, for each course that is forecasted in the schedule. Each course will assemble and disperse according to its Time Table.

Answer

REDTRAC courses are categorized as follows:

a) Regular Core Courses (RCC):

These involve local and regional participants in direct classroom contact with lecturers/facilitators and these courses are usually of two or three weeks duration.

b) Computer-Based Training (CBT):

These involve local participants receiving individual training via modular, computer-based programs. CBT sessions are completed over a 3-day period  and a computer-generated Certificate follows the successful completion of a selected suite of modules.

c) Seminars, Modules and Sessions (SMS)

• Seminars: Normally of 5 days duration and are usually demand-driven.
• Modules: Normally of 3 – 4 days duration and are usually delivered/inserted into another, longer Course on request.
• Public Sensitization Sessions: Normally of 2 – 3 hours duration and can include members of the wider public.

Under normal circumstances, RCC and CBT schedules operate in parallel with each other.

Answer

As far as is possible, the scheduling of ‘back-to-back’ Courses is avoided. Accordingly, a minimum 1-week ‘down-time’ is normally built in at the end of each course. ‘Down-time’ is embraced as a desirable feature which allows for time to review, renew and to conduct routine administration before the start of the next course. In practice, ‘down-time’ is dictated by and is planned around local Public Holidays.

Answer

The majority of REDTRAC Courses are of 10-days duration incorporating two sets of five tuition days – Monday to Friday x 2. This arrangement utilizes three sets of week-end days with activities as follows:

1st WEEK-END: Assembly of participants.

In-bound travel from regional/local destinations on the recommended travel dates – i.e. the Saturday or the Sunday preceding the Monday, start date of the course.

Local participants with ‘In-residence’ status assemble at REDTRAC no later than the Sunday preceding the Monday, start date of the course.

Local participants who are commuting daily will assemble at REDTRAC no later than 8:00 am on the Monday, start date of the course.

2nd WEEK-END: ‘Out-and-About’ excursions. (See FAQ 6)

3rd WEEK-END: Dispersal of participants.

Out-bound travel back to regional destinations on the recommended travel dates – i.e. the Saturday or the Sunday immediately after the Graduation Exercise.

Local, commuting participants will normally depart REDTRAC on the completion of the Graduation Exercise.

Local participants with ‘In-residence’ status will depart REDTRAC no later than the Saturday morning after the Graduation Exercise.

Answer

‘Out-And-About’ excursions are activities which allow the participants to see a bit more of Jamaica than is possible on the REDTRAC compound. Subject to class progress and the fulfilling of the Time Table requirements, these are planned activities which afford the regional participants the opportunity to visit historic and cultural sites, places of interest, places of entertainment and shopping outlets in-country. These include: Dunn’s River Falls, the Green Grotto Caves, the Black River Safari, the Bob Marley Museum, the Red Stripe Sports Bar, Port Royal, Shopping Malls in Kingston, Portmore and Spanish Town; restaurants, cultural eateries and the regular fast-food restaurants….among other places. ‘Out-And-About’ activities are only held for courses which include regional participants.

Answer

The places of historical, cultural and entertainment interests that are visited are commercially run entities for which entry fees are charged by the proprietors. Participants are to plan accordingly for spending money as required.

During the first week of the course, the Administrative Manager or the Student Affairs Director will deliver a briefing on these matters outlining the proposed venues, the proposed activities and the associated costs. There is no charge for transportation to attend the REDTRAC planned/REDTRAC endorsed events.

Answer

No. As it relates to the place allotments and enrollment for courses, REDTRAC does not transact with individuals but with Ministries/Departments/Agencies (MDAs) and/or related, registered Companies and Organizations. Having nominated an employees (or employees) for a course, the entity will communicate this to REDTRAC via the established channels using the established procedures. All communication is between REDTRAC and the MDA/Company/Organization until the confirmation of the nominee/nominees is communicated to REDTRAC in writing. Thereafter, REDTRAC may begin to communicate with individual nominees via details provided on the prescribed enrollment form.

Answer

As a general practice this is not allowed. This is due to reasons related to on-going Courses, follow-on Courses and administrative plans and projections for future activities. The REDTRAC facility has limited resources with which to operate an active Course Schedule, regular maintenance and other scheduled activities. Early check-in and delayed check-out would put a strain on the orderly allocation of these resources and would disrupt plans for on-going or follow-on activities.

Based on the above, participants whose travel arrangements fall outside of the recommended travel dates are expected to utilize temporary “off-site accommodation” at recommended hotels, guest houses or at the hospitality of relatives or friends. Thereafter, arrival at REDTRAC can be scheduled to coincide with the regular, recommended Saturday/Sunday arrivals.

Whenever the “off-site accommodation” is within the Kingston area, on receiving notification of the location and a request from the participants, REDTRAC will provide ground transit between the “off-site” location and the Centre. This will be done on the recommended travel dates by combining these journeys with the regular airport transits for participants arriving and/or departing on those Saturday/Sunday travel dates.

Please note that ground transportation from an “off-site” location to the Airport is the responsibility of the travelling party/parties.

Answer

REDTRAC Courses are either of mixed cohorts of local and regional participants or cohorts made up of local participants only. Persons of either gender are equally welcome at REDTRAC and cohorts usually reflect all of the above while also covering the complete spectrum of the ‘Community of Practice’ that is served.

Answer

Yes. There are courses at REDTRAC the flavour and the content of which allows for the attendance of private sector personnel. These include courses for Port Facility Security Officers, Leadership and Management Development and the Public Speaking (Development) Seminar. Certain conditions apply for the attendance of private sector personnel.

Answer

To be eligible for a Course completion Certificate, participants must satisfactorily complete all course assessments/course requirements and must also attain:

1. 80% of total contact hours for 2-week courses
2. 100% of total contact hours for 1-week seminars
3. 100% attendance for CBT Modules
4. The requirements for modular training are as per the policy of the larger course into which the REDTRAC module is being injected.

Answer

The possibility of REDTRAC taking courses to an entity/department within the region is premised on the understanding that all costs associated with the movement and accommodation of the personnel and equipment would be at the expense of the requesting entity/department.

However, those costs aside, REDTRAC is not now configured for this ‘Mobile Training Team’ (MTT) approach as there are major challenges that would have to be surmounted as follows:

a) The majority of REDTRAC lecturers are in-service practitioners; personnel drawn from various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Accordingly, the release of these persons for an overseas assignment would have to come from their parent MDA – not from REDTRAC. While it would not be an impossibility to secure the release of personnel from MDAs, there are personal and organizational issues that would have to be resolved before such deployments.

b) There are logistical challenges to contend with relating to the movement/assembling of the necessary training aids, the availability of training areas and the requisite course-support.

c) The deployment of REDTRAC lecturers overseas will affect the local operations of the Centre.

Based on the above, no active consideration is being given to the deployment of MTTs without first devising ways to surmount the challenges highlighted. However, in order to satisfy an immediate local need, REDTRAC will give consideration to ‘bulk nominations’ from an entity/department. Such requests for ‘bulk nominations’ must be communicated and confirmed to REDTRAC in good time so that the numbers can be factored into the overall course-loading.