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TMLs in perspective (2) whyno syllabus?
Page 94
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THE ABSENCE of any syllabus or schemes of study for the transport manager's licence has been a source of frustration for many concerned with road transport education. Some 16 months before the concept became crystallized in the Transport Act, the idea was first mooted. I have had many letters in the past year asking me to supply details of the TML syllabus, the writers suggesting that they had missed seeing this information. These correspondents seemed highly surprised when I pointed out that no such information is available.
The surprise was on my side when an acquaintance told me the other day he was taking a course which led to the award of a TML. Further enquiry elicited the information that he was taking a course which appeared to cover the likely syllabus required for a TML. Other bodies have been running courses which attempt to anticipate the type of material which will be in use for the TML. Predicting an examination scheme is always a tricky business, especially in this case where there are no precedents.
But it does show that there are a large number of educational organizations raring to go only to find they have no course on which to run a contest leading to a TML. What are the difficulties in what seems an unwarranted delay? I mentioned last week that Schedule 9 of the Transport Act which deals with the TML is couched in very general terms with an entire absence (probably deliberate) of specific detail. The implementation of this section relies heavily on regulations to be decided at a later stage by the Minister on receiving the advice of the industry and the educational bodies concerned.
Main advice
The main advice will come from the TML Joyce Committee which is currently trying to work out a suitable structure for the administration of the licence. In doing this, a tremendous variety of problems have been unearthed, which is not surprising considering the breadth and fragmentation of road goods transport, and the differing aims and intentions of trade associations and professional institutes. Thus, until some finalized structure can be constructed, it is little use presenting definitive schemes of study.
Some important conclusions from the educational point of view have already been announced. The wording of this section of the Act is confusing with the liberal use of the word "licence"; we have a transport manager's licence as part of wider conditions for an Operator's Licence, the whole generally entitled Quality Licensing. It is important to distinguish between a person reaching the standard required for the qualification and the legal requirement for a person to be nominated as a manager of a group of vehicles. It is rightly recommended that the person gaining the qualification should be granted a Transport Manager's Certificate which is held for life (like any other qualification) but that the nominated manager, who will be a certificate holder is licensed and the tenure of his licence remains only as long as he keeps that particular appointment.
Thus any number of persons in a given road transport firm can take the examination scheme for the Transport Manager's Certificate but only a few will be licensed managers—exactly how many will depend on the actual transport arrangements of the firm and by the agreement of .the Licensing Authorities. This is but one important example of the type of problem involved in spelling out the letter of the TML concept. All these aspects must be cleared before a firm syllabus can be advanced.
How schemes of study vary for the separate "classes" of qualification will depend on an agreed formula for grades of certificate, a problem which I will hold over until next week.