Sports Science

Monday 10 December 2007Comment on this article Permlink

Sports Science

The STEM Sector Co-ordinator has conducted research on behalf of one of our partner institutions into provision of a new Foundation Degree in Sports Science.

Outcomes of the research showed that there are relatively few jobs in real sports science.

We recommended that care should be taken in the use of Sports Science as a named programme, as these are generally not meeting the needs of employers in the sector.

The importance of a programme that is fit for purpose and has real relevance to employability cannot be understated.

It has been very useful to draw on the advice of the Sector Skills Council (ie SkillsActive). It was also useful to refer to the work of the Project, ‘Aligning a European Higher Educational Structure in Sport Science’ (AEHESIS Thematic Network).

SkillsActive’s recent work on Foundation Degrees has resulted in the development of a Foundation Degree framework for the sector to define good practice in foundation degree design.

This was supported by Higher Education Institutions, employers and national bodies such as Sport England and the Register of Exercise Professionals.

The framework contains specific advice for five sub-sectors: fitness, coaching, outdoors, sports development and leisure management.
Framework: www.skillsactive.com/foundationdegrees

It is important to note SkillsActive did not develop a framework for foundation degrees in sports science.

There were several reasons:

There are a huge amount of sports science course at BSc/ Masters/ PhD level
There are very few actual job opportunities in sports science – mostly in Higher Education itself and a few in Institutes of Sport
Due to competition those who get the jobs will normally need learning far above Foundation Degree level, usually as high as PhD
It would be hard to gain work experience/ work based learning on an Foundation Degree in a true sports science environment
BASES don’t really support F Foundation Degrees and have Foundation Degree graduates as members
Most sports science graduates who don’t work in sports science end up in fitness/ coaching or other areas of mass employment in the sector

The AEHESIS project’s main activities were to map all sport science in the four main areas in Europe: Sport Management, Physical Education, Health & Fitness and Sport Coaching.

It aims to draw up a general overview of the implementation of the Bologna process within those programmes and to compile their research findings.

Outcomes will be:

A common European database containing all sport science institutes accessible for all stakeholders
An electronic communication environment including a newsletter and all related web services
A living European communication network
A commonly accepted framework of professional and learning outcomes in the area of sport science
A methodology for analysing and comparing university programmes across Europe
Case studies of good practice and innovation
A model curriculum structure for each identified area
Further recommendations were that Sports Volunteering presents an opportunity for developing modules related to ‘Managing Volunteers’.

This presents a key opportunity to prepare individuals for volunteering management at the 2012 Olympics.