1. Contact us to explore, establish and agree a development partnership
Before you commit to anything, we find it’s helpful to have an exploratory meeting to discuss how a partnership works, the commitment required, and the various service(s) available.
What requirements do 1st4sport partners need to meet?
The partner needs to be recognised (usually by SkillsActive) as the technical expert(s) in their area. For coaching qualifications this usually means a governing body of sport recognised by Sport England, or appropriate home nation sports council.
How does a technical development partnership work?
It couldn’t be simpler. 1st4sport provides the awarding expertise and the partner provides the technical know-how. As a result, the qualifications meet regulatory criteria and are fit for purpose. It seems to work well with the 30+ technical partnerships we currently have.
Who does what/owns what?
1st4sport owns the qualification with the partner retaining intellectual property rights of the technical content, learning programme and learning resources. We assure all our partners that we wouldn’t continue to award a qualification without the partner’s ongoing support.
How much does it cost?
There aren’t any direct costs in being in a partnership. Our costs are embedded within the registration and certification fees for learners, which, in comparison to other awarding organisations, is usually extremely favourable.
2. Conduct research and establish a rationale
Qualifications need to be developed with a clear understanding and insight into the dynamics of their learner base and markets. As such, we require the partner to conduct some preliminary market research to identify and evidence the needs for the qualification. For us to develop a qualification we generally set our minimum at 100 learners per year. For many qualifications in our sector there is a range of units already available on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) which make creating a qualification generally straightforward.
3. Seek approval to develop the qualification
Once a demand, need and potential structure (from existing QCF units) have been identified, approval needs to be sought to develop the qualification from SkillsActive – the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for Active Leisure, Learning and Well-being.
4. Confirm partnership and develop the qualification package
Once SSC support has been obtained, all parties confirm the partnership (through a signed partnership agreement) and begin qualification development.
What’s involved?
There are many facets to qualification development, such as the design and development of a:
- qualification specification – the required information includes:
- the units that make up the qualification need to be sourced or created
- tutor, assessor and verifier criteria for those involved in the delivery, assessment and quality assurance of the qualification
- the equipment, facility and venue requirements to meet the needs of both learners and the qualification
- prerequisites (ie how old learners need to be and the skills, knowledge and competency they need to have before they begin working towards the qualification)
- the assessment specification – detailing the assessment requirements for the qualification
- learner pack – including assessment tools such as tasks and templates to assess the learner’s knowledge and competency, and
- tutor/assessor/verifier pack to provide guidance for those involved in the delivery, assessment and quality assurance of the qualification.
What is the process?
A 1st4sport Qualifications Development Manager (QDM) works with a representative from the technical development partner to develop the package. The main commitment and outlay for the partner is allocating someone who has the capacity to meet and communicate with a QDM.
How long does it take? Set realistic goals (within own organisations capabilities)
A realistic timescale would be six months but it depends upon the partner’s capabilities. If time and availability is limited, then the process will take longer.
What other considerations are there?
We encourage the partner to consider (re)designing and (re)developing (where appropriate):
- a delivery system (who will deliver the learning; what type of organisations are likely to want to become recognised centres)
- a learning programme
- learning resources, and
- a trained workforce to facilitate the delivery, assessment and verification of the qualification.
5. Gain accreditation
Finally, we submit the qualification to Ofqual and/or the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and, all being well, end up with a nationally recognised qualification, with a comprehensive qualification package.
...and that is just the beginning...next comes the challenge of implementation!
> Further information is available from the 1st4sport Qualifications website.
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