1.17 The College used 62 military staff to deliver its first Advanced course and reduced this to 57 for subsequent courses at Bracknell. In its original plans the Department had assumed that the College would need 50 military staff to deliver the Advanced course in the new permanent collocated facilities. In light of the College's experience of delivering the Advanced course, however, the Department agreed in 2000 that the figure be increased by two posts to 52, provided that the extra costs were met from the College's existing budgets.
1.18 The College has some say over the United Kingdom military staff who are posted to it to deliver the training, although the primary responsibility for this rests with the individual Services. In addition, certain of its teaching staff are overseas officers posted to the College under reciprocal arrangements with overseas armed services. To assist new staff the College runs an induction course and appoints a mentor for each of its military teaching staff during their time there. The College takes assurance that most of the staff are of the required quality from the fact that over 75 per cent of them were subsequently posted to high grade or command appointments. We note, however, that the best practitioners of a subject do not necessarily make its best teachers and that even those who naturally are good teachers need time and experience to develop to an acceptable standard.
1.19 The College has no control over the length of time that the military teaching staff are posted to it as, again, responsibility for this rests with the individual Services. According to the College, such staff appointed to the Advanced course rapidly become effective as syndicate leaders because of the induction programme and the high quality of the personnel involved. However, in terms of their contribution to the development and management of teaching, they only become fully effective after 15 months when they have had experience of delivering a whole course. In June 2001 65 per cent of the military teaching staff at the College had been in post for less than 15 months. The College recognises that a balance has to be struck as higher quality staff will move on more quickly but will also bring a better understanding of current views and practices within the Department. It also recognises that the Services not only have to take account of the College's needs but also the broader requirements of an officer's career and their own operational priorities when deciding on the length of a posting.
1.20 At times there can be a gap between staff leaving the College and their replacements taking up post. The College estimates that between August 1999 to June 2001 it lost 7 per cent of available teaching capacity because of unfilled military teaching posts. While no actual teaching days were lost as a result of this, such understaffing did increase the workload of College staff in post.