GCMC Public Affairs Staff Report

Spearheaded by the Partnership for Peace Consortium’s Education Development Working Group, the curriculum development event took place with the Czech Republic Ministry of Defense hosting a multi-national group of 20 senior enlisted leaders and civilians from 10 countries at the MoD hotel in Prague's 6th District.PRAGUE – Two years of international work on a professional military education curriculum for partner noncommissioned officers culminated in a final writing session June 20-21 here.

The object of the group's work has been to “pool its years of collective experience to gain consensus on identifying the essential elements for professional military education of NCOs and to write a generic or ‘reference’ NCO PME curriculum”, according to John Kane, who oversees the EDWG for the PfPC.

The curriculum addresses three main themes: profession of arms, leadership, and core competencies, and addresses them at the junior, intermediate, and senior NCO levels.

"The model describes how many levels of courses over a career the soldier should undergo, and what is supposed to be taught," explains Ludek Kolesa, who, as senior NCO at the Allied Command Transformation, Norfolk, Va., was one of the project's promoters in 2011.

“The outcome of this publication will help overcome huge gaps existing now among soldiers of different nations,” says Kolesa, who is in charge of advance education at the Czech MOD, adding, “It’s all about interoperability; soldiers in NCO and warrant officer ranks will have a chance for better and closer cooperation knowing each other’s skills.”

Both NATO and PfPC support the approach to the educational concept described in the publication. Its recommendations can be used by any armed forces.

A similar reference curriculum for commissioned officers was issued two years ago.

“Obviously, this is an exciting time following two years of work,” said Kane. “Everyone is looking forward to its eventual implementation and use.”

Co-led by Canada and Switzerland, the group has been hosted in Lucerne, Switzerland; Brussels; Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; Weert, Netherlands; and Oberammergau, Germany; before concluding its work in Prague. NATO will print the finished product, scheduled for October.

The PfPC is located at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, a partnership between the German and American governments, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The director of the Marshall Center, retired Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, serves as the chairman of the PfPC’s Senior Advisory Council. For more about the study group, including recent policy recommendations, please visit the PfPC’s website at www.pfpconsortium.com.