Taken to Task

Getting from the task to the objectives

I’ve mentioned before that IFSTA has basic and advanced programs ready to roll out for just about any topic. Admittedly, I put the cart before the horse. You might be thinking, if this lesson material comes from IFSTA ready to use, why re-invent the wheel?

Well, sometimes we do things a little bit differently due to apparatus design, response district, personnel capabilities and so on. Before we ever get into building the objectives for a lesson plan, or tweaking an IFSTA plan for our use, we must determine what task we want to train on.

There are a couple of different schools of thought about how tasks relate to training objectives; some people think that tasks can bethe terminal/main objective and enabling/supporting objective. Others think the task is the terminal objective and the enabling/supporting objectives are the skills and knowledge required to perform the task.

At first glance it looks like two sides of the same coin, but in fact they’re totally different. So which approach should you use? Whatever one makes you happy. Consider, however, that you must develop objectives for each task. If you keep a task list for each person’s training (and you should), and you regard each of these tasks as an objective, your task list eventually becomes unmanageable.

Analyzing a Task
You must perform a “task analysis” to break down the task into steps. Watch a qualified individual perform the task while taking notes on each action that occurs. Then use those notes to build the training steps for the task.

Example: Ladder 1 has a hinged ground ladder rack on top of the body that must be lowered to access the ladders. If the attic ladder is not stored properly on the rack, it will contact the outriggers, and bend or break if the outriggers are out or need to be deployed while the rack is down (speaking from experience … twice).

Someone who knows what’s going on can drop the rack and pull a ladder in short order. But to teach someone new, the task must be broken into the following steps:

1. Set the aerial power in the cab.
2. Energize the ground ladder rack from the back of the apparatus.
3. Lower the ground ladder rack using the DOWN push button on the back of the apparatus.
4. Release the two latches, unlocking the ground ladders.
5. Pull the selected ladder from the rack.

There you have it: a simple job analysis for pulling a ground ladder from Ladder 1. The associated task would be, “Remove a ground ladder from Ladder 1.”

Skills & Objectives
The next step is to tie the task to skills and knowledge objectives. There are two types of objectives.

The terminal objective should be the task, but reworded with the condition, performance and standard:
With Ladder 1 parked, idling, and outriggers out (condition), remove a [specified] ground ladder (performance) in accordance with [your department’s requirements] (standard; this may be time- or process-driven).

Enabling objectives (the required skills and knowledge to perform the task) would read something like this:

1. State and demonstrate the personal safety precautions for removing a ground ladder from Ladder 1.
2. State and demonstrate the equipment precautions for removing a ground ladder from Ladder 1.
3. Lower Ladder 1’s ground ladder rack and unlock the ground ladders.

Note: The enabling objectives don’t have performance, conditions and standards in them. When these things are specified in the terminal objective, it isn’t necessary to include them in each enabling objective.

The final step: Develop a lesson plan to support these enabling objectives, which in turn support the terminal objective.

Scott Cook is the former chief of the Granbury (Texas) Volunteer Fire Department and a fire service instructor. He's also a member of FireRescue's editorial board.