We have compiled a list of frequently asked questions to help you understand what is ITRA is
doing and how you benefit from being involved.
The International Technical Rescue Association is a non-profit trade association, established by technical rescue practitioners for technical rescue practitioners. We exist to provide global recognition of technical rescue practitioners including instructors. We have developed a global syllabus to compliment national standards, allowing local flexibility with global recognition.
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ITRA is now governed by a Board of Directors who were elected by the ITRA membership and who serve three-year terms. Previously, an interim Steering Committee was established to stand up the association and provided initial governance.
We are fortunate to have the support of MMCo, an association management company based in Wayne, PA, USA and have engaged them to provide operating and administrative services for the association.
Click HereITRA does not provide courses directly. We appoint instructors who operate to international best practices as established through our training system. We ensure instructors are kept current and are accountable to a code of conduct (and our instructor handbook). This external oversight ensures external quality assurance of instructors to give clients and the community confidence. We provide a calendar of public courses and an instructor directory to help you connect with our instructors.
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The ITRA training system is unique, as it is made up of “Instruction” and “Assessment”. Instructors can teach any of the learning objectives within their instructor qualification and record such student attendance on our database. This allows instructors to teach just one teaching point, through to 300 teaching points on a course (naturally 300 teaching points would take some weeks) so there are no more ‘cookie cutter’ courses.
However, if you have an existing local standard or standardized course, instructors simply instruct the relevant teaching points aligned to that standard or standardized course. ITRA does provide “Introductory” Certificates, which can be issued to students who have attended/participated in all the learning objectives contained within a qualification, but have not been formally assessed for competency. Such introductory certificates are available to members (i.e. student member) and have a QR code so they can be easily verified.
Students who are ready for competency-based assessment against all the teaching points within a certification (i.e. ITRA Swiftwater 1) are evaluated by certified instructors or registered assessors, and the candidate must satisfactorily pass all teaching points to be awarded the certification. This approach means that if someone completes a DEFRA (UK) course and the associated teaching points are recorded, then the same individual goes to the USA and wants to gain NFPA recognition, any gap training can be quickly identified – making learning globally portable.
Additionally, it is common in vocational competency frameworks that assessors only need to hold the standard they wish to teach and assess. In many cases, stakeholders have lost confidence in the competence of graduates of such standards. The ITRA system also provides for instructor certification, including the external revalidation of such persons and a code of conduct which often does not exist for vocational competency framework trainers.
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We currently have approved and deployed curricula for the following disciplines:
As part of our strategic plan we will be considering on-boarding additional subjects over the coming years.
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We have four types of certificates that are issued by the association.
The first is an “attendance” certificate, which confirms the student has attended a specific event with one of our instructors. This may range from a 1 hour session to a multi-day workshop. The course title is given by the instructor. Some instructors also choose to provide their own branded certificates for their courses instead.
The next is an “introductory” program certificate, meaning the student has attended/participated in all the learning objectives for an ITRA qualification, but has not been assessed for competency. This certificate is issued by the association to members upon payment of a fee. This may require the student to attend multiple courses in order to be eligible for its award. An example would be the ITRA “Introduction to Rope Responder”.
The third is our practitioner “qualification” certificate, meaning the student has been formally assessed for competency against the respective ITRA qualification. They are required to revalidate this every three years to maintain currency and must also continue to be a member of the association. An example would be the ITRA “Level 2 Rope Technician” qualification.
Lastly, we have an “appointment” certificate for our instructors. Instructors must hold a Level 3 qualification in the appropriate discipline, submit an instructor portfolio, and undergo an assessment by an ITRA registered assessor. See more information on how to become an ITRA Instructor in the FAQ.
All the above certificates have a QR code to enable real-time verification, noting that “course’ and “introductory” certificates require the student to be a current member of the association to activate the QR code record.
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ITRA is not all about instructors. We have developed three tiers across our range of practitioner qualifications: Level 1 Responder, Level 2 Technician, and Level 3 Advanced. Instructors must be qualified to at least one level above the one they wish to teach (with Level 3 Instructors appointed by the Board or delegated authority), as well as meet other requirements for instructing. Traditionally, many national teaching systems have been based on attendance – being assessed to become an ITRA practitioner (i.e. Rope 1, Swiftwater 1, etc.) demonstrates that you are a competent practitioner, not just that you completed the course. Being a certified practitioner also requires that you abide by the ITRA Code of Conduct and re-certify every three years. An ITRA practitioner qualification shows your stakeholders you are a world class operator.
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As a member of ITRA you become part of a collaborative and supportive worldwide trade association that can provide instruction and assessment against global certifications across a range of disciplines and levels. It demonstrates that you are committed to excellence and high standards set by our Code of Conduct, providing external credibility and accountability.
Membership also provides opportunities to be involved in a range of association projects, from governance on the Board, to serving on committees and working groups.
We also envision numerous national and international opportunities from exchanges and conferences becoming part of the future too.
Click HereITRA offers the following membership options:
Student Membership
Students are added to the ITM Training database by an ITRA Instructor when they take a course through ITRA. As an ITRA Student, you do have access to your own training record in ITM once you have completed a course and can also view/print any qualification certificates that you have earned.
Associate Membership
Associate membership is reserved for those individuals who are affiliated with the industry and wish to become involved and/or are serving in an administrative position with a company or organization that provides training and are responsible for setting up training events and entering assessment data. If you are a technician and/or wish to become an instructor, this is NOT the correct membership category for you (see Regular Membership below).
Become an Associate Member here.
Regular Membership
As the world’s only trade association for technical rescue, we rely on the support of members such as yourself.
Membership is based on a rolling 12-month period, which begins when your application is approved and payment is received. You will receive notification via email when your membership dues are due, and you can renew your membership using our online renewal form which uses Paypal/credit card. If you have any questions about when your membership is due, please contact the ITRA administrator at info@itra.international.
If you prefer to pay using bank wire transfer and/or be issued a formal invoice, please contact our customer service centre. Please note that if you choose to pay via wire transfer, a $50USD transaction fee is required in addition to membership dues.
If your membership has expired:
Do you collect arrears?
No. Your renewal is effective on the day you renew with no arrears.
Can I backdate courses I have instructed for when I was inactive?
No. For example, if your membership expired in January, and you did not renew your membership until March, then you are not a member during that inactive time and not entitled to member benefits, including providing ITRA recorded courses or assessments if you are qualified to do so.
If my membership has been de-activated due to non-payment of dues, how long will it take to re-activate my membership if I pay my dues?
As soon as payment is received and processed, your record will be re-activated and you will be notified via email.
Click HereITRA operates two web platforms – the ITM training database and the ITRA website. They may or may not use the same username, but may also have different passwords as they are independent of each other. Some members chose to change their passwords etc. to be the same for ease of remembering, while others do not for increased security.
Integrated Training Management (ITM) database
The first is ITM which is where current (Regular and Student) members can:
If your membership has expired, you will not be able to access ITM even to reset your password. Renew your membership here.
To reset your ITM password click here if your ITRA membership is current.
ITRA Website
Although most of the ITRA website is public-facing, only ITRA members (Regular and Student) are provided access to any online courses that are available, as well as appearing in the member directory.
Appearing in the member directory is optional, and the default for each active member is set to “no”, so in order to appear in the directory, you must:
It may take up to 24 hours to appear in the Directory after changing the permission.
To set up your log in to the website, the username should be the same as your ITM user name unless your ITM username contains special characters such as ‘ (i.e. O’Carroll).
To reset your website password click here.
Please do not contact the Association for password assistance unless you have tried the above options first as often self-resetting can offer the quickest solution. Please also ensure you are using a Windows OS computer using Chrome browser for best results.
If you need password assistance, please contact HQ at info@itra.international.
Click HereYou will find that our technical rescue curricula is publicly available from our resources page. This document outlines ITRA, our training system, graduate profiles for each qualification and the teaching points within each.
Visit our resources section for the current version of our qualifications.
Click HereYou are not required to attend a COURSE to get assessed. If you are a current Level 2 ITRA technician, and you want to get assessed at Level 3, you can either have an assessor come to you and assess you on those skills, or you can come to them. Or if you are not sure you have all the necessary skills mastered, you MAY take a Level 3 class and THEN assess. It is totally up to you.
Click HereTo become an ITRA Instructor you will first need to hold the ITRA qualification through Level 3 for the appropriate discipline. For example, if you wish to become an ITRA Rope Rescue Instructor, you will need to have a current qualification for Level 1 Rope Responder, Level 2 Rope Technician, and Level 3 Rope Advanced.
Note: as of January 2022, ITRA discontinued issuing Level 1 and Level 2 Instructor certifications for all disciplines. Going forward, the certification is simply “Instructor” (no level).
If you are a Level 1 or 2 Instructor right now, you have until December 31 2022, to a) get assessed as a level 3 technician and b) also get assessed as an Instructor. After this date, if you do not hold a current level 3 certification in your discipline, you cannot hold an instructorship for that discipline. One reason for this change is that “Instructors” can now assess all students performing their technical LO’s. The ITRA Board felt that an Instructor needs to be accomplished at the art of teaching and be skilled enough to recognize advanced mistakes. There are also some liability concerns with having people with only level 1 skills labeled as instructor.
Application process
There are two paths to the application process which is either through non-direct entry which is for those that already possess ITRA qualifications in the disciplines they wish to deliver training in, or direct entry which is for those that do not hold any ITRA qualifications but may have transferable knowledge and skills from other previous training and operations that is comparable. The Working Groups will assess each application.
Non-direct entry
The following criteria applies to non-direct entry:
Direct entry
The following criteria applies to direct entry:
Both non-direct and direct entry
For both entry paths, an adult learning or Instructor certificate is required under the following criteria:
Accepted adult learning evidence
There are many types of adult learning courses and certificates available in many countries which are too numerous to list. When evidence is submitted for the application, the relevant Working Group will assess it to ensure that the qualification is acceptable. In some cases, the qualification may be internal to an organization by policy and not a printed certificate. The working group will have ultimate approval authority reference a candidate’s ability to teach adults.
Generally, the adult learning qualifications accepted will consist of the necessary components to deliver theory and practical training to adults. Components include roles and responsibilities as an educator, planning, communication, delivery methods, inclusive learning approaches, education and training resources.
Accepted Instructor qualification evidence
There are many types of Instructor qualifications available also. Examples include Instructor courses that may be specific to a discipline such as Fire Department Rope Rescue Instructor or general Instructor qualifications such as a military general instructor qualification that covers instruction in a wide variety of disciplines.
When evidence is submitted for the application, the relevant ITRA Working Group will assess it to ensure that the qualification is acceptable.
Generally, the Instructor qualifications accepted, are comparable with the adult learning qualification and will consist of the necessary components to deliver theory and practical training to adults.
References
Two references are required by the applicant.
The references should be:
The references should not be from:
How to apply
Applicants who believe they have met the above requirement are to apply using the following process.
Once all of the above is completed, and the paperwork/results have been submitted to HQ, the certification will be processed by ITRA administration, training records will be updated, certificate(s) issued, and the candidate will be notified via email.
Click HereYou must first be current in Level 3 of your discipline(s). If you are, then to requalify as an Instructor, you just need to be assessed by a Registered Assessor for the instructor skills. There are only 3 LO’s you have to do…teach a classroom block, teach a hands on block with a demo, and assess a mock student performing a level 1, 2,or 3 skill. Depending on how many people you have in one location who need to requalify, it might make more sense to bring an assessor to you. Or you can contact a Registered Assessor (you can find a list in the online directory) and see what they have scheduled and where they will be, and you can go to their location for your requalification.
Click HereInstructors are not mandated to enter every student they teach into the database, but we do recommend it as it does not cost anything for instructors to add such achievements to a student’s record. By entering your courses into our ITM database, the student then can be given a copy of their ROL – record of learning (transcript) which the learning objectives taught (not assessed for competency). The ROL contains a QR code so that the record can be validated in real-time, however they will need to activate the QR code through becoming a student member with ITRA.
Instructors can add as many students and their teaching point completions as they want as part of their annual membership fee. This means it does not cost anything apart from the instructor’s time (and an annual membership fee) to record even internal training, making the ITRA system attractive for agency instructors and those in organizations with less resources.
Our ITM database makes course administration a breeze, so for many instructors access to such a system is a significant benefit of being with ITRA. ITM can manage public enrollments, joining instructions, reminders, course information, learner results and more. Certificates can also be downloaded and/or printed by students on demand with no additional fees.
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No. We take an inclusive approach and encourage all technical rescue practitioners and instructors to be part of ITRA.
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So you want to earn an ITRA qualification but don’t know where to start? This FAQ has the process outlined in detail to help you succeed and join the global elite who also hold ITRA competency and independently assessed qualifications.
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Once you have been successfully assessed by an ITRA Instructor or Assessor for one of our qualifications, make sure that you also have signed the skill assessment result form to confirm the assessment outcome.
From there, you will either be provided a copy of this form, or invited to take a photo (i.e. on your phone) of it. This provides your interim proof of your assessment result. Make sure you leave with a signed copy of your result.
The instructor or assessor is then responsible to report the result to ITRA via an online Assessment Result Submission Form, as well as enter the attendance data and objective deliveries via the ITM platform. The instructor or assessor is also responsible for paying ITRA the assessment fees that are due.
Click HereTo become a registered ITRA Assessor:
Assessors are appointed by ITRA after undergoing a structured process that requires them to show evidence of experience, qualifications and competency in the areas they wish to assess in. ITRA Assessors are those that are responsible for assessing ITRA Instructors.
The primary role of the assessor is to ensure that each Instructor demonstrates performance of the required competencies in a safe, effective, and professional manner and, in accordance with ITRA systems and standards. Once appointed, assessors may conduct assessment on behalf of ITRA in accordance with the criteria as laid out in this document.
Application process
The following principles apply to the appointment of an Assessor:
The Training and Standards Committee, composed of representatives from the Board of Directors and Working Groups will assess each application.
References
Two references are required by the applicant.
The references should be:
The references should not be from:
How to apply
Applicants who believe they have met the above requirement are to apply using the following process.
The process for applying is as follows:
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