The influence of the officer student specialty on his performance in the Command and Staff course from 2004 to 2011

Abstract

The aim of This paper was to analyze the influence of the officer student specialties on their performance in the Command and Staff Course (CCEM-P), from 2004 to 2011, by measuring the difference between their Final and Initial Test grades. Due to this, it was questioned if the knowledge acquisition intended by Air Force Command and Staff School (ECEMAR) was influenced by these different professional experiences (represented by the officer student specialty). The methodology consisted of data acquisition from the Evaluation Subdivision of ECEMAR Instruction Division and statistical analysis of this data using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey procedures. The data analysis stated that, in a probability of error less than 5%, the officer student specialties did not influence their performance in the CCEM-P during the studied period. Furthermore, confrontation of the data analysis results with the learning curve theory allowed presuming that CCEM-P officer students, during the period from 2004 to 2011, had profound knowledge in the subjects studied in this course. These facts allow a better self-knowledge by ECEMAR, which should not consider the students specialties in its evaluation methodology planning, and by Brazilian Air Force, which should expect that the officers who have concluded the CCEM-P master the subjects taught in this course.