DEVELOPMENT OF PROCEDURES FOR DERIVING TRAINING OBJECTIVES FOR JUNIOR OFFICER JOBS

Research was undertaken to develop a systematic method that could be used by service school personnel to prepare job-oriented training objectives for junior officers, primarily in the form of behavioral statements of student performance expected after training. The procedures developed are divided into four phases A--Listing of all tasks for a job B--Selecting tasks for some formal training C--Identifying the training emphasis needed in the selected tasks D--Specifying the knowledges and skills necessary for the selected training aspects. The procedures included administration of experimental questionnaires, both by personal interview and by mail, reviews of pertinent directives and publications, and visits to field units. As the procedures were developed, they were tried out on a sample officer job nike Hercules Fire Control Platoon Leader. In the trial application, a task inventory of 452 items provided the basis for choosing, by use of definite selection rules, 101 job activities 22 for some formal schooling of 160 training objectives stated for these activities, 46 were performance-type objectives for which detailed activity descriptions were required. It is believed that use of these procedures by service school personnel to prepare junior officer training objectives is feasible, and that these procedures provide a method for deriving behavioral statements of relevant and essential objectives.