International Training Academy (ITA) is South Africa’s market leader in expert fi***rm training. ITA develops fi***rm training material and supplies this material to more than 260 ITA-accredited fi***rm training centres across South Africa. ITA’s footprint is not limited to South Africa, it extends to a host of African countries including Namibia and Kenya and beyond the African continent to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. ITA provides training at all levels of the fi***rm qualification including basic training for private use of fi***rms and competency testing for fi***rms license applications, business purposes training and the respective part qualifications or modules required for use of a fi***rm in a work environment, e.g. Armed Security Officer and fi***rms industry related fi***rm training at Instructor level, Assessor, Range Officer and Tactical level. ITA’s training material is accredited with the Professional Fi***rm Trainers Council (PFTC) and is developed in line with the SAQA fi***rms qualification. Originally launched as an Instructor Training Organisation, ITA soon became South Africa’s largest Fi***rm Training Association, offering courses in all aspects of fi***rm training and disciplines. The same remains true today. Andre, through ITA, trained various specialised groups and designed courses and training programmes in specialised fields. He has been recognised as one of the leading experts in tactical fi***rm training and course development in the world. Andre served in the South African Defence Force and was involved in fi***rm training for more than 30 years, attending courses all over the world. Andre trained more than 2500 instructors for various Government institutions and private companies, both locally and internationally including SAPS, military, private security, nature conservation, VIP protection, metro police and civilian sectors. All the ITA training material that is available to industry today was developed by Andre, and this material is used by more than 260 ITA-accredited training centres across South Africa. Understanding the importance of quality control, Andre developed a Quality Management System which ITA training providers are required to adhere to. This ensures that the ITA-accredited training centres countrywide provide the same level of service and standard of training that the ITA brand has become synonymous with. ITA continues to provide support to training centres in the form of training materials, assessment tools and methodologies used in fi***rm training and continues to train top quality, highly skilled instructors. Andre worked closely with Government in implementing the industry changes that were necessary when the Fi***rm Control Act (60/2000) was adopted in South Africa and was instrumental in establishing a professional body (The Professional Fi***rm Trainers Council – PFTC) to ensure that quality assurance standards were met and that a clear guideline for professional training and training materials existed in South Africa.
