A heads-up on EBT Implementation

Evidence-based Training (EBT) is described in ICAO doc 9995. If you want to go down the EBT implementation route, here’s a few hacks to simplify the process. First, ignore all the hype about this being a ‘new training paradigm’. It’s not. In fact, there is nothing new in EBT. What is different about EBT is that it places a greater responsibility on trainers to do their jobs properly, but we will come to that later.

Before we starting thinking about the implementation, we need to first understand what EBT is. In simple terms it is a template for delivering airline pilot recurrent training. The template includes 3 specific events, all of which are required. It is populated by training topics drawn from a table that has been created by looking at a whole load of historical safety data: the ‘evidence’ in EBT. At the end of the 3 year training cycle, all of the events must be covered, some of them more than once. That’s all there is to it. One way EBT differs from legacy training is that instead of assessing performance based on the procedural and technical accuracy of the pilot, you now look at a set of generic ‘competencies’. Competencies are supposed to be attributes that can be developed, through training, and are transferrable to different operational contexts.

The main difference, however, is how trainers are expected to behave. If we start with the 3 EBT events, the first is the EVAL exercise. This is a LOFT scenario during which the trainer simply observes and diagnoses any deficiencies in performance and identifies any remediation needed. Next, we have the SBT event, which is another LOFT scenario where the trainer can now intervene and offer the coaching
necessary to remediate the weaknesses diagnosed in the EVAL. The final element is the Manoeuvres Training, which is simply a chance to have a go at various manual handling activities. Trainers need to understand how their role differs across each of these events and must also be able to effectively diagnose and then remediate through demonstration, maybe, and effective debriefing. This will be a challenge because it calls on skills not previously taught, generally, to trainers.

But airlines will also have to change if they want to implement EBT. The whole thing rests on rigorous standardisation of trainers, both in terms of how they train but also in how they assess. Airlines need management processes in place to control the randomness that characterises many recurrent training systems. And that will be a challenge.

The ‘Implementing EBT’ course on RAVEN, will tell you how to solve these problems during your implementation process.