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Chapter six
2010-2019: The boom years
Like many colleagues Norma Clarkson got roped into guiding by a friend who was already a member of the STGA.
‘It was one of my best decisions in life, as it has brought me into contact with many wonderful and talented personalities and gave me many enjoyable, satisfying and funny experiences!,’ said Norma who is a retired solicitor.
‘I was interviewed by the STGA in 1995 and was advised that it was a professional association. This was reassuring, as I had no wish to join any kind of ‘cowboy outfit’. ‘Oh good!’, I replied, ‘and what are your Continuous Professional Development requirements?”
‘Ah well’, was the response, ‘We’re working on that...’
For the uninitiated, CPD is the term used to describe learning activities professionals engage in to develop and enhance their abilities.
CPD can include attending lectures, workshops, conferences and events on relevant subjects to guides.
‘Fast forward 15 years and I find myself elected as the chairman of the STGA, which still had only three of the four hallmarks of a professional association: a qualification to a recognised standard (in our case EN:BS15565:2008), a Code of Conduct and a Complaints/Disciplinary Procedure, but still lacked the last: a formal CPD Scheme.
‘This lack was brought into sharp focus during my first meeting as STGA chairman with the chairman of the Scottish Destination Management Association, Rebecca Brooks, who now sits on the board of the Scottish Tourism Alliance.
‘How do you keep your members up-to-date?”, she asked.
‘I explained all our members undertook CPD activities during the off season.
‘How do you know?’, was her next question and one to which of course I had no answer. ‘Time finally to get down to formulating a CPD Scheme. The only experience of a CPD Scheme I had then was that of the Law Society of Scotland, which I realised had to be modified to fit the tourist guiding profession. The STGA was fortunate to have as vice chairman, at that time, an outstanding director in the late inestimable Roy Stewart, who, prior to acquiring his Blue Badge, had been the Human Resources Manager of a large engineering company in Glasgow. It was he who suggested that it was vital to survey the membership to gain an insight into members’ thinking about this.
‘Armed with the results of this survey, Roy and I put our heads together and brought out the first draft of a CPD Scheme, aimed at being robust enough to command the respect of our tourism industry partners and flexible enough to meet the requirements of our particular profession. A CPD committee was also formed to roll out the Scheme and develop it further in light of experience.
‘Roy and I and other committee members introduced the proposals in a series of roadshows round all the branches, took the feedback on board and the final CPD Policy document was subsequently adopted by the Board as a Standing Order under Article 70(a) of the Association’s Articles of Association.
‘Because this was a major new policy for the STGA, which was not without its critics, I suggested to the Board that we should put the new CPD Policy before our national AGM for ratification. Though not a constitutional requirement, I felt it was a pragmatic one, as we wanted to have the majority of the membership behind it. At the 2010 AGM we had a record turnout of 117 members with much lively debate and the CPD Policy was overwhelmingly endorsed by the AGM.
‘The first year of the CPD scheme involved paper logs and evidence and the CPD committee had to process a mountain of paperwork, which was then all returned by post to the participants. Each log was checked to ensure the participants understood and were following the terms of the scheme.
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