Jules Kneepkens & Ray Elgy
Jules Kneepkens, Co Director,
AQE b.v.
Ray Elgy, Co Director, AQE b.v.
Jules Kneepkens, together with Ray Elgy, advise Civil Aviation Authorities around the globe on ICAO and EU/EASA compliance. Both Jules and Ray have each been involved in the Rulemaking process of ICAO, EU/EASA and CAAs for almost three decades.
Jules and Ray are also involved in on-line training activities and incorporate these activities in their advisory work for Civil Aviation Authorities, and also advise operators on how to effectively use on-line training for their staff.
Before joining EASA as the Rulemaking Director (2008-2014), from 2000 to September 2008, Jules Kneepkens worked in various governmental senior management positions. In 2000 he was appointed as Director of Civil Aviation in the Netherlands and in 2007 as Director General Civil Aviation in Belgium.
Ray Elgy started his career at British Airways, joined the UK CAA and had several positions varying from Head of Propulsion Department, Head of Aerodrome Standards Department and latterly as Head of Licensing and Training Standards Division. Ray has also participated in a number of the EASA Rulemaking groups, including pilot training.
Evaluation Studies on the Impact of e-Learning
Come what may, there will always be a need for training. The Covid-19 Pandemic, and the measures taken to contain the spread of the virus, have had significant economic, organisational, and educational impacts on everyone involved in training activities. In aviation it has particularly affected the training of pilots, cabin crew, air traffic controllers, and maintenance engineers.
The unprecedented economic situation pushed airlines to completely review the training programmes for all of their staff. Whilst the mandatory training requirements remained in place, the regulators allowed certain aspects of this training to be implemented in a different way, e.g., replacing classroom training by e-learning.
Many of the major European airlines have taken steps in the past year to outsource training, restructure their training facilities, courses and training syllabi, minimise the provision of non-mandatory training, and review the total training offer to their staff, (e.g., re-assess the value of management, professional and cross-domain training courses etc.).
During the Covid-19 pandemic, most universities, colleges, secondary and primary schools were closed for much of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, and much teaching moved on-line. Evaluation studies on the impact of this e-learning on students and teachers provide lessons learned which will be of value for the aviation industry. This should also be of interest to regulators in their oversight of training in the aviation sector.
What can be trained on-line and what cannot? Who decides which mandatory training elements can successfully be done on-line? What are the implications for Cabin Crew of more on-line and less classroom training? What should Regulators do to ensure that on-line training meets the requirements, incorporates the latest insights in how to optimise on-line learning for the students/young professionals, and what new skills do on-line trainers need?
