At 15:42 26 April 2007, Nyal Williams wrote:
snip
As I understand
it, the BGA allows beginning level instructors for
this basic instruction. I'd be more interested in
seeing a tiered instructor level like that for the
US than a wholesale requirement that all instructors
be required to have a gold badge.
snip

AFAIK, a Basic Instructor is effectively limited to
upper air work (but I'm sure someone will correct me
if I'm wrong about that), so someone new to gliding
fairly quickly needs an Assistant or Full instructor.
Where I fly has an evening for ab-initios and another
for the Bronze group, all instructors for those are
AIs or FIs. As to gold badges - one of our Bronze
instructors must have enough diamond flights for a
tiara of his very own, but thankfully he's not that
sort of guy! (and fitting it under the canopy without
damaging him, it or the canopy might be problematic)
Two more of the four do XC flying (and I'm pretty sure
have gold), will ask the 4th next time I see him.

My view is that we are very lucky to have these guys
teaching us, especially as they all normally give up
an evening a week for 7 months of the year.