What is a Head of Training (HT)?
The Head of Training (HT) is the nominated post holder at an ATO, or the equivalent role at a DTO, responsible for the standard and consistency of the training the organisation delivers. They oversee the instructors, the syllabus and standardisation, making sure every student is trained and assessed to the same competence the licence requires, and that instructors themselves stay current and aligned.
Where the accountable manager is answerable for the organisation as a whole, the Head of Training is answerable for its training. That covers the syllabus and how it is taught, the competence and currency of the instructors, and standardisation, the process that keeps two instructors marking the same flight to the same standard.
In practice the HT is the person who signs off that the organisation is teaching what it should, to the level it should. A large part of the role is evidence: being able to show, from the training records, that students progressed properly and instructors delivered consistently, which is exactly what an inspection examines.
Questions people ask
- Does every training organisation need a Head of Training?
- An ATO has a nominated Head of Training as a required post holder. A DTO has an equivalent responsible person for training, appropriate to its smaller declared scope.
- What does standardisation mean?
- It is the process of keeping instructors consistent, so the same flight is briefed, taught and assessed to the same standard whoever the instructor is. Keeping evidence of it is part of the Head of Training role.