RiC Newletter Issue 2 Spring 2010

Evaluation Newsletter Issue 2 Spring 2010

RiC Evaluation Newsletter

The evaluation is now well under way and, along with the usual ‘Success Stories’ and ‘Evaluation Updates’, this issue features a response from Sport England about concerns raised about the availability of Level 1 Governing Body of Sport courses. To give you a taste of what the Good Practice Case Studies are producing, we’ve also included an extract featuring Key Success Factors and Top Tips for Recruitment from Tees Valley.

Working with Governing Bodies in Community Settings One issue to emerge during the early stages of the Evaluation has been securing Level 1 courses with governing bodies of sport. We spoke with Jeremy Lemarchand from Sport England (Recruit into Coaching’s lead for community settings) who provided some useful ideas based on earlier work to address this in the past and explained why county sports partnerships (CSPs) are in a much better position to work with governing bodies of sport in 2010/11.

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What work has been done in this area so far?

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CSPs have been working closely with local universities, some of whom have well-established relationships with governing bodies of sport and are

some of their recruits to travel, so they have started a buddy system where recruits can share lifts and travel.

Before anyone is paired up, suitable checks are carried out to ensure the health and safety of the candidates.

delivering UKCC Level 1 courses. The relationships with these institutions have enabled recruits from CSPs to access university-run Level 1 courses.

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Some CSPs have pooled recruits together and then approached governing bodies of sport as a region.

This has meant more recruits being put forward for Level 1 courses, thus making life easier for the CSPs and the governing bodies.

Where strong relationships exist between CSPs and governing bodies of sport, the CSPs involved have been able to facilitate relationships and contacts for other CSPs. It has been recognised that some CSPs have faced issues with getting

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When a significant amount of funding is at risk because Level 1 courses are not taking place, Sport England has been able to broker relationships between the governing bodies of sport and the CSPs through governing body relationship managers.

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Many of the CSPs have had success deploying recruits into clubs and other settings before the recruit has completed their Level 1 Continued overleaf

Newsletter Spring 2010

Success Stories!

RiC helps new coaches take those first steps

© Alan Edwards

For many people new to coaching the most daunting question is ‘where to start?’.

Daneel and Mustafa from Middlesex were two such people; both were interested in coaching but unsure of what to do next. It was while reading an article in the Brent Magazine about coaching bursaries that they found the answer. They got in touch with local development officer, Jenny Green, who was able to help find them a Level 1 trampolining course and apply for a RiC bursary to pay towards some of the cost of the course.

While organising the training course Jenny also introduced them to another trampoline coach, based at Willesden Sports Centre (north-west London) to get more hands-on experience and mentoring.

Continued from previous page (ensuring they meet minimum operating standards). Doing this has meant recruits have been ‘kept keen and involved’ before courses can be held, thus helping to prevent drop off.

What about the future?

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Governing bodies of sport are now in a good place to be working with CSPs and relationships have really improved since the delivery of Whole Sport Plans began.

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When planning and setting up Year 3 of the Recruit into Coaching (RiC) programme (community settings), Sport England has asked CSPs to ensure there is a needs-led approach to the recruitment and deployment of coaches. For example, matching the needs of sport governing bodies to the demands of recruits.

Assessment of the Delivery Plans will tell if this has taken place.

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CSPs have at least one year’s knowledge of RiC and the kind of courses that recruits are interested in. It is important for CSPs to share this information with governing bodies of sport. If information is shared now for recruits coming on to the programme in April/May, it should be easier for recruits to access courses in June and July.

Early sharing of information will enable governing bodies to slot recruits into their cycle of coach education courses.

The whole experience has proved successful, as well as helping at weekly sessions in Willesden, both Daneel and Mustafa are now working towards their Level 2 trampoline coaching course and setting up new sessions at another sports centre in Brent.

activepassport™ offers long term benefits South Yorkshire Sport has been making good use of the activepassport™ scheme from SkillsActive to promote long-term development among recruits. At induction sessions, as well as submitting criminal record bureau checks and conducting training-needs assessments, new coaches are signed up to the activepassport™. The process has been working well and a real advantage is that recruits can be signed up immediately and talked through the system in person to ensure they understand the process.

“So far the candidates have been keen to use the activepassport™ system and can see the benefits of keeping it up to date”, said Simon Pugh, Partnership Development Officer at South Yorkshire Sport. The CSP has been working hard to reiterate the message of keeping passports up-to-date, and that recruits can take the passports with them once they have finished the RiC programme.

With activepassport™ the benefits work both ways as the recruits get a transferable record of achievement and potential employers gain access to clear records of employees’ capabilities, helping to support recruitment selection and staff training.

Improving data collection across London For the 2009/10 RiC programme, PRO-ACTIVE Central London has been using the SkillsActive web portal to support recruits accessing the programme.

The portal has provided an ideal way for applicants to access the programme, primarily because the weblink can easily be advertised through networks via email and takes away the enormous workload of having to collect information from candidates at their induction.

PRO-ACTIVE Central London worked with SkillsActive on developing the portal, feeding in the fields required to make a bespoke package that would collect all information required on candidates at the point of entry, thereby streamlining the administrative process. Fields on the portal range from demographic information (ie which ward candidates live in) to questions on experience and what they want to access as part of the programme.

Continued overleaf

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Newsletter Spring 2010

Success Stories!

So far, key benefits from the use of the portal have been:

Continued from previous page

Key Success Factors and Top Tips for Recruitment from Tees Valley Case Study •

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borough partners have minimal administrative responsibility for data collection

Target specific groups – the work you do with the group can be tailored specifically for them, which can improve retention and enthusiasm to continue. If you engage the ‘ring leader’, usually the rest will follow.

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data collected across central London is consistent and comprehensive

Selling the programme face-to-face improves take-up – local partner organisations can also act as a referral agency for recruits.

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Run courses locally with local tutors who have the right skills to work with the groups involved – this will ensure that it is easy for recruits to attend and the tutors are aware of locally available training and coaching opportunities.

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Think about how you determine a coach’s commitment to the RiC programme; consider using CSLA as screening approach and use refundable deposits to encourage attendance on courses.

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Think about the types of coaches you need in your area. In Tees Valley, the CSN identified the need for coaches to work with young children so, in the future, they hope to target young mums and other parents to help fill this gap – turning people who are already good with children into coaches, rather than teaching coaches to be good with children.

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Working together, using an integrated approach between school and community settings and partner organisations, means that a partnership can offer a recruit whatever is best for him or her, and the partners can share their time and resources, avoiding duplication.

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ineligible candidates can be filtered out at an early stage

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the web address is easy to advertise and the form is simple to complete.

During 2010/11 it is hoped the system will be expanded and used for all five London CSPs, with PRO-ACTIVE Central London continuing to feed into further development of the system for the coming phase of delivery.

If your CSP is interested in following Central London’s lead and having its own web portal, please contact your SkillsActive Regional Development Manager.

Read the full case study at the RiC evaluation web page.

Evaluation Updates New team member John McIlroy is now the project lead for the evaluation. If you have any comments, suggestions or ideas, please email John at jmcilroy@sportscoachuk.org

Web watch We have added the second Good Practice Case Study to the evaluation web page (www.sportscoachuk.org – you will find the RiC page listed in the Research section of the homepage). This case study focused on the pooling of resources among CSPs and SSPs in Kent and includes some useful recommendations and Top Tips.

If there is anything you think we should have on the website, please let John know by emailing him at jmcilroy@sportscoachuk.org

Next Newsletter...

New methodology for Recruit Tracking Study The Recruit Tracking Study methodology has been changed so it will now consist of three face-to-face interviews with 18 recruits between now and March 2011. This will examine their initial interest in and expectations for the programme, and then follow their progress with interviews after six months and a year.

By agreeing this new approach with Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust, we expect to obtain a greater depth of understanding about recruits’ motivations, expectations and experiences than would have been possible through a questionnaire.

However, we need your help! If you know of any recruits who would be interested in taking part in the tracking study, please get in touch with John McIlroy. Prizes are available as incentives.

The next RiC Evaluation Newsletter will be published in May 2010, with the latest evaluation news, success stories, and Top Tips on coach deployment.

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