The Coastal Kayak Committee is excited to announce an update of our curriculum for 2024 and beyond! Following three years of development by the committee, the SEIC and ACA Board have approved changes to the curriculum. Below is a summary of the changes:
Updated Skills Assessments for Levels 2-4
Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 Skills Assessment documents have been rewritten with an outcome-based standards approach. We have also redesigned the assessments to focus on the application of core skills in different paddling environments as paddlers seek to gain knowledge and develop their skills. The updated assessments are flexible to be delivered in our many US regions and internationally while upholding established standards.
A New Level 5 Advanced Open Water Skills Assessment
L5 Instructors may now deliver the new L5 Advanced Open Water Skills Assessment. The new assessment is now online and active in CMS.
New Resources – Level 2-5 Assessor’s Guides
A new resource has been created to better equip you for delivering skills assessment courses – the “Assessor’s Guides”. These guides complement the updated skills assessments and provide detail on what meets the standards for each level. They also include grids that you may print off and use during your assessment courses. There is a guide for each level of skills assessment (L2-5).
Updated – Coastal Kayak Instructor Criteria
All Coastal Kayak Instructor Criteria have been updated. The new criteria place emphasis on Course Delivery, Instructional Expectations, Practical Teaching, Leadership and Delivering Skills Assessments. Less emphasis is placed on the evaluation of candidates’ personal skills as Skills Assessment courses have become more robust.
New Paddler Friendly Documents
Along with resources for Instructors, ITs and ITEs, we have begun development of new paddler facing documents. The first documents to be released will be Paddler Overviews and Training Guides for each level of Coastal Kayak. More detail is provided in the video below.
Updated CMS Candidate Evaluations and Skills Assessment Evaluations
CMS has been updated with new evaluations that reflect changes to Instructor Criteria and Skills Assessments.
Learn More
The following video was presented to the SEIC Board in October of 2023. This video gives the background on development of the updated curriculum and further detail on all the new documents. CKC Curriculum Update Overview Video (10:27)