Diploma in Sport and Active Leisure
Progression Case Study:
Advanced level – Higher Education
Introduction
Jake is a 24 year old former Diploma in Sport and Active Leisure learner from Sheffield, who has progressed from an advanced level Diploma, through Higher Education to find a career based in the outdoors as an advanced instructor with aspirations to become a centre manager in the future.
As a pre 16 learner, Jake was unaware of some of the potential career opportunities available in the outdoors sector; he has always been the ‘outdoors type’ enjoying camping and mountaineering, however, his main interests came in the form of outdoor water sports and enjoyed kayaking and watching local water sports events as a spectator. During his time in education he was a keen Scout and was heavily involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, proudly achieving his Gold Award at the age of 16.
Having chosen the Advanced Diploma as a 16 year old, Jake began to develop a wider knowledge of the sport and active leisure sector, improving all round employability skills. It also gave him the opportunity to find the career path that suited his ambition and understand the characteristics that were important to employers in the sector. Having learnt on the Diploma that employers value a range of personal qualities, such as enthusiasm, customer focus and other ‘soft’ interpersonal skills, Jake decided that further qualifications and work based experience would enhance his career opportunities so he decided to undertake a foundation degree in Outdoor Studies before progressing onto an honours degree in Outdoor Adventure Leadership and Management.
This combination of learningwith volunteering and a part time role at a local community centre provided Jake with the knowledge and skills to walk into a job as an activity instructor for a local outdoors water sport business, before furthering his role as an advanced instructor. Currently happy with his role, enjoying the varied work each day, Jake intends to step up to management level in the near future as he feels he has developed the necessary knowledge and skill set in what he views as a clear career pathway.
Diploma Details
Diploma Title: Advanced Diploma in Sport and Active Leisure
Principal Learning: Mandatory Units - 540 GLH
The impact of an active and healthy lifestyle
Effective management and leadership in sport and active leisure
Applying science to sport and active leisure
Applying scientific principles to enhance performance
The sport and active leisure workforce and the economy
Globalisation and the sport and active leisure industry
Politics and policies in sport and active leisure
Promoting opportunities for all in the sport and active leisure industry
Developing community cohesion through sport and active leisure
Generic Learning: - 180 GLH
Personal learning and thinking skills (PLTS)(60 GLH), a minimum 10days work experience and an extended Project, demonstrating independent learning and enquiry relevant to a subject or sector (120 GLH)
Additional/ Specialist Learning, Extended Project and Work Experience
Additional / Specialist Learning:- 360 GLH
Having previously completed all three levels of his Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Jake wanted to assist on training sessions for Bronze and Silver expedition members so he decided to partake in the Basic Expedition Leadership Award (Sports Leaders UK – 120 GLH). Although, he was able to register to start training at 17, he was unable to be assessed until he had turned 18, however, upon successful assessment Jake was able to become a supervisor for DofE expeditions in the rural ‘rolling’ terrain at Bronze and Silver levels. This provided him with great experience as an instructor and increased his employability options and skill set. Due to his keen interest in water sports and ambition to work within the outdoor sector, Jake decided to take the Level 3 BTEC Diploma in Sailing and Watersports (Edexcel – 240 GLH). This provided him with an overview of the type of work involved in the watersport scene, leading water-based Outdoor and Adventurous activities as well as developing key business and management skills that would be essential to his employment prospects.
Extended project:
During the Diploma, Jake wanted to tailor the majority of his learning towards the outdoors so when it came to his extended project it was a chance to develop his knowledge of the sector. As an outdoor enthusiast, Jake enjoyed‘managed risk taking’ and although not an avid current affairs follower, at the time he was aware of media hype surrounding over-protected children at one extreme, and an increasing blame culture at the other. Jakedecided to analyse the debate surrounding risks versus benefits within the outdoors sector as a project and in particular, investigatinghow this impacted on outdoor sector organisations.
At the time Jake livedclose to a national park, and so he was blessed with a number of outdoor centres on his doorstep. As a result of beingproactive he was able to arrange meetings with three different centres, who thankfully were happy to help him with his project. From these meetings, he was able to build a good understanding of the legal aspects of outdoor centre management. This included learning about the statutory licensing scheme, and being shown modern risk management processes. One centre organised for Jake to spend some time with an experienced instructor. She talked to Jake about emotional and physical risk taking, and the need for instructors to suitably challenge participants to encourage development.
Jake was never a great fan of writing essays, so he decided to produce a short video demonstrating how risks are managed in a modern outdoor centre. One of the centre managers was happy to be interviewed on camera, and also helped to arrange for Jake to film (with participants’ permission) a climbing wall based activity session. As a part of the process, Jake was able to shoot footage of the instructor checking equipment for the session, the briefing of participants and the general group management by the instructor. In the editing suite at the college, Jake was able to edit his footage to demonstrate the perceived risk taking together with the emotional and physical challenges experienced by the participants. This was interspersed with shots demonstrating the safety systems in place, and participants’ positive reactions upon completing the set tasks. This video together with a short written account of what Jake had learned about risk management in the outdoors formed the basis for his extended project.
Work Experience:
Jake was keen to gain as much practical understanding of the Outdoors sector, understanding and developing skills that employers would be looking for in so he worked hard to find an appropriate work experience placement. Fortunately, one of the contacts Jake had made during the start-up of his extended project put him in touch with an outdoor centre that was willing to offer him work experience. The centre was on the outskirts of the next town, and could be reached by public transport.
Although Jake was not able to lead activities on his own, he gained a valuable insight via his shadowing of two different instructors and the centre manager. As well as being involved in the running of sessions such as archery, climbing and kayaking, Jake was able to assist with the ‘behind the scenes’ side of the centre – this included equipment maintenance and health & safety checks. He spent time in the office with the centre manager, and had an opportunity to manage bookings and staff rotas.
The centre staffwere all very friendly and their enthusiasm for introducing the outdoors to people reinforced Jake’s desire to follow a career within the sector.Time spent at the centre gave Jake the chance to ask staff questions about their qualifications, how their careers had progressed so far, and the pros and cons of working at a centre. He also saw the rewards of helping people to have fun, of them being challenged and the change it encouraged withmost participants.