Page 13 - Signal Summer 2019

| LEADERSHIP: CADET SCHOOL | ‘Working In The Cadet School Is A
Privilege’
Commandant Cathal Keohane talks to SIGNAL about the genesis, structure and execution of leadership training within the Defence Forces Cadet School
The Cadet School was established as part of the recommenda- tions of the military mission to the USA in 1927. At that time it was envisaged that the Cadetship would be a four year course with a minimum of 90 Cadets studying at any one time. The first class of Cadets were inducted into what was then called the Army School of Instruction (ASI) on 01 February 1928. Following a reorganisation and the agreement of a two year syllabus, while that class were in training, they were commissioned from, what was by then called, The Cadet School, on 02 September 1929.
In our current organisation The Cadet School is a sub-unit of the Military College, which itself is a unit of the DFTC. The establishment of the school, according to DFR CS4, is 20 permanent staff of whom 10 are officers and 10 are NCOs. The officer establishment includes 1 Lt Col, 3 Comdts, 4 Capts and 2 Lts. The NCO establishment consists of 1 RSM, 2 CS’s (one per class), 1 CQMS and 6 Sgt Instructors.
The Independent Monitoring Group (IMG) requires that any NCO tasked with instructing Cadets be at least of Sgt rank and have the Specialised Instructor Course complete. It may be the case that many units would consider themselves very lucky to be as well resourced as the Cadet School, however the establishment of the school was designed to cater for class sizes of between 30 to 50 Cadets as was the case since the early 1970s. Recent large classes have placed a significant strain on the governance, conduct and infrastructure supporting Cadet training. Some of these gaps are addressed by seeking suitably qualified instructors from other Brigades and formations through the training resource requirement (TRR) system.
The staff Cadet School are normally task organised as per the diagram below:
Note: The student Counsellor is a Mil Col resource who, while not on the establishment, is located in the School.
Comdt Cathal Keohane
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