International Camp Directors Course (ICDC)
Date: 
The 2012 ICDC Course will be held:
Start: Sunday 23, September, 2012.
Finish: Wednesday 26, September, 2012.
Venue:

The venue for the 2012 ICDC course is YMCA Lake Dewar Lodge- 339 Garrards Lane, Myrniong VIC 3341
Cost:
ACA Member Price: $770 (inc GST)
Non Member Price: $935 (inc GST)
*Price includes Accommodation, Meals, Course Text, Course Contents.
**Please be advised REGISTRATION WILL OPEN SOON! Please send Expressions of Interest through to the ACA Office to be notified.

The program
In 2008 five Australians volunteered to be trained in the delivery of this program, using the northern American curriculum. The curriculum has been reviewed and revised over the years for American delivery and has now been modified to be relevant and suited to Australian situations and standards. It was decided in early 2009 that a pilot program would be run to identify the curriculum value as a professional development tool and to determine the ongoing value / support for the program. This pilot ran successfully and is now offered from time to time.
The program is sponsored by Sport and Recreation Victoria, YMCA Victoria, Uniting Church Camping (Victoria), Somerset Outdoor Learning Centre (NSW), Kangaroobie (Victoria) and Edmund Park Adventure Education (Queensland).
Course goals
Goal 1 - To present the basics of camp management in the core areas of the organized body of knowledge
Goal 2 - To expand their network of peers and develop a community of professionals in a "camp like" atmosphere
Goal 3 - To provide an introduction to self-directed learning and the participants' role in their own professional development process

The Team
Course Facilitators are:-
Matt Bowker, Kangaroobie (Victoria)
John Woods, ACA Past President and Director, Edmund Park Adventure Education (Queensland)
Andrew McGuckian, Director, Uniting Church Camping (Victoria)
Paul Colagiuri, Manager, Somerset Outdoor Learning Centre (NSW)
Brendan Smith, YMCA Victoria, Camping Group Manager
Maree Feutrill, Camp Manager, YMCA Camp Manyung
Rebecca Fox, Manager, Kindilan Outdoor Education & Conference Centre (QLD)
Course contents
(subject to change without notice)
- Vision and camp business sustainability
- Accommodation - fire systems and essential services
- Grounds management- arborists and grounds risk assessments
- Catering commercial kitchens standards - food handling and kitchen regulations
- Activities - Activity Standards (aquatic, ropes, cycle, ratios, qualifications, equipment, logging, reporting, checking, maintaining, briefing, debriefing, risk assessments, etc.)
- Work place agreements and HR requirements
- Buildings and asset standards
- Manage the ins and outs
- Look after the client
- Participant outcomes
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Plus more
More information
Contact Brendan Smith
Ph: 03 5772 1477 Mob: 0407 790 032 Email: Brendan Smith
Click Here to Register Now
Feedback from the ICDC Course - 28th - 30th September 2009
Here’s what two of the instructors had to say:
From John Woods- Edmund Park Adventure Education (QLD)/ACA Past President
Congratulations to all 21 attendees at the inaugural ICDC in Australia, held last week at Anglesea YMCA. The 5 course facilitators, Brendan Smith (YMCA Victoria), Paul Colagiuri (Somerset Outdoor Learning Centre NSW), Matt Bowker (Kangaroobie VIC), Andrew McGuckian (Uniting Church Camping VIC), and myself (Edmund Park QLD), greatly appreciated the enthusiastic input, discussion, and willingness to learn from all participants. Feedback so far has been more than positive, with comments such as "The best Professional Development I have ever undertaken", and "I know I now have certain areas of my business where I need to pay a lot more attention". ACA is very proud to have hosted this program, and we will certainly be offering more courses, hopefully in the near future. Thanks to all for making this a huge success.
From Brendan Smith - YMCA Victoria
The first ICDC (International Camp Directors Course) has been delivered at the YMCA Anglesea Recreation Camp and based on the early feedback it has been a great success. There were in total, 21 participants from Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and NSW. The program curriculum was received from the “American Camping Directors Course” which has been in operation for over 20 years. This curriculum was handed to 5 Australians who ventured to Canada in 2008 to participate in the training program to deliver back in Australia. The content has been modified for the Australian context and the general outcome following the course was that it was appropriate for anyone managing a camp or aspiring to manage one in the future. The five facilitators on the program who donated their time included Matt Bowker -Kangaroobie VIC, Andrew McGukian -Uniting Churches VIC, Paul Colagiuri -Somerset NSW, John Woods- Edmund Park QLD, Brendan Smith- YMCA VIC.
All five were very happy with the program and were very pleased how well the training was received and the responses from all who participated. They also feel the course can improve with the knowledge gained from running this first program which was a pilot, partly sponsored by Sport and Recreation Victoria, the five facilitators and the YMCA Camp Anglesea. There was overwhelming support by those who attended the course that it would be worth pursuing as a professional development program into the future for the industry so keep your eye on the ACA news for future dates.
Here’s what some of the participants had to say;
“Unbelieveable value for money. The best PD I have attended in years”
“I will book in key staff next time”
“A fantastic breadth of knowledge was shared across the 3 days”
“Thanks for putting this on, extremely valuable”























