This report identifies opportunities for optimizing processes and policies in the U.S. Air Force nonrated technical training pipeline and recommends process and policy changes that could improve efficiency at all levels.

The authors identify insights relevant to Air Force technical training from how colleges and universities size their instructor corps, best practices associated with supply chain management, and approaches for developing a flexible instructor pool.

The USAir Force human capital management (HCM) system is not easily defined or mapped. It affects virtually every part of the Air Force because workforce policies, procedures, and processes impact all offices and organizations that include Airmen and responsibilities and relationships change regularly. To ensure the readiness of Airmen to fulfill the mission of the Air Force, strategic approaches are developed and issued through guidance and actions of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Services and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Strengthening US Air Force Human Capital Management assesses and strengthens the various U.S. Air Force initiatives and programs working to improve person-job match and human capital management in coordinated support of optimal mission capability. This report considers the opportunities and challenges associated with related interests and needs across the USAF HCM system as a whole, and makes recommendations to inform improvements to USAF personnel selection and classification and other critical system components across career trajectories. Strengthening US Air Force Human Capital Management offers the Air Force a strategic approach, across a connected HCM system, to develop 21st century human capital capabilities essential for the success of 21st century Airmen.

A variety of non-conventional instructional formats are used in Air Force technical training. Manual and computer-based approaches to self-pacing are included, as are combinations of small-group pacing, used alone or with other formats. This effort investigates instructor roles and job requirements in a wide range of non-conventional instruction (NCI). A total of 99 instructors in nine Air Force technical training courses completed questionnaires concerning the percentage of time they spent performing selected roles and behaviors. They also indicated problems they experienced in the performance of these roles and behaviors. This paper presents implications of the findings for a theoretically based NCI instructor role model, for training of NCI instructors, and for the use of noninstructor personnel in selected roles and behaviors.

This report documents how the Air Force could reduce the impact of institutional requirements on manpower in traditional career fields while ensuring that the organizations that depend on them are staffed with the qualified personnel they need.