Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for coaches in the grassroots game 1
Contents Page 1 CPD and commonly asked questions 1.1 What is CPD? p.3 1.2 What are CPD Hours? p.3 1.3 Appropriate CPD p.3 1.4 How to complete CPD hours p.3 1.5 Are all CPD events the same length? p.4 1.6 How can coaches track CPD hours? p.4 1.7 How much does CPD cost? p.4 1.8 Will there be CPD events near me throughout the season? p.4 1.9 Can CPD be completed online? p.4 2 The FA Licensed Coaches Club 2.1 What is The FA Licensed Coaches Club p.5 2.2 The Benefits of The FA Licensed Coaches Club p.5 2.3 The FA Licensed Coaches Club CPD requirements p.6 2.4 How The FA Licensed Coaches Club can help you monitor your CPD p.6 2.5 Licensing and the grassroots game p.7 3 Useful Contacts p.7 3.1 The FA Licensed Coaches Club p.7 3.2 Your Local County FA p.7 2
Chapter 1 - CPD and commonly asked questions 1.1 What is CPD? CPD means Continuous Professional Development. Research shows that a coaches learning is not just down to the coaching qualification itself and that in fact the vast majority of learning is a coaches own personal journey and development. Coaches completing CPD show dedication to enhancing their own learning and knowledge, trying to constantly improve their skills. It means committing to doing a given number of hours of training per year, depending on the level of coaching qualification held. 1.2 What are CPD Hours? CPD hours are a measure of how many hours of relevant CPD a coach has done for their licensing level. All coaches are required to complete CPD hours in order to maintain their coaching licence and ensure they are in-date and up to date. 1.3 Appropriate CPD All formal CPD events need to be approved to ensure they are considered as appropriate development for coaches. FA accredited events can be recognised by The FA Licensed Coaches Club logo. CPD events will generally be accredited over a two level banding, so for example levels 1 & 2, or 2 & 3 or 3 & 4 (UEFA B & A) etc. This is to ensure that all attendees holding this level can receive appropriate CPD opportunity, with the absolute assurance that it should be meaningful and relative to all attendees. This is a standardised format that covers all of the CPD providers in England, to ensure consistency, and a quality assurance process. Coaches can of course attend courses that are aimed at higher or lower level coaches if this is of interest. However, if for example a Level 1 coaches attends a level 3 (UEFA B) accredited event as they wish to become more informed of content and challenges at a higher level this will not be accredited as formal CPD as this is not relevant learning for this level as at the time the coach may not be in a position to have the skills and knowledge to aid transfer back into their own coaching. This is also the case should a UEFA B coach choose to attend a Level 1 accredited CPD event, even though attendance will be recorded on their FAN profile. 1.4 How to complete CPD hours CPD can be completed in different ways, formal CPD is monitored by The FA Licensed Coaches Club. Coaches can of course compliment their learning through other sports and non FA events, this will then be classed as informal CPD*, formal CPD must be FA accredited in order to be updated to a coaches FAN profile as this is the only way The FA are able to monitor the quality, content and attendance at these events. Formal CPD can be completed in a variety of ways; by completing one of FA Learning s qualifications, attending an FA Licensed Coaches Club national or regional CPD workshop or conference, Local County FA CPD workshops or completing one of our online courses. 3
*Informal CPD will not be updated to your FAN profile and will not accredit any hours to your FA Licensed Coaches Club training profile. However can be recorded in the free text box available for you to update on the My Training page of the FA Licensed Coaches Club website. 1.5 Are all CPD events the same length? The majority of courses are more than five hours long, but specific events targeted as CPD could be shorter and coaches may therefore be required to do more than one of them to reach the required number of hours for their qualification/licensing level. When selecting a CPD event it is important that coaches pick one that is appropriate for their licence level and that this accredits the hours needed. 1.6 How can coaches track CPD hours? This can be accessed via the My Training Section on The FA Licensed Coaches Club website or by visiting member services via one of the county FA website. After completing a course, the hours will show on your record. It will take up to four weeks for the CPD hours to show on your record, but often it will be much quicker. 1.7 How much does CPD cost? CPD costs vary according to the event a coach is completing. For example a national course would cost significantly more than an online course. CPD is not designed to add additional costs to coaches but to recognise the work that coaches are doing and to strive for constant improvement. Most of the CPD events offered by CFA s are Free of Charge. 1.8 Will there be CPD events near me throughout the season? Yes! There will be several locally organised CPD events across the country, run by County FAs and delivered by FA Staff or other stakeholders. These events will count towards coaches CPD hours and are typically free of charge. The locations of national and regional events will vary from season to season; a vast majority however will take place The National Football Centre, St. George s Park in Burton. 1.9 Can CPD be completed online? Yes, there are a variety of online courses that will qualify as your CPD, completing one of our online courses is a great way for you to fulfil these hours as each course can be completed in your own time and will accredit CPD automatically upon completion. To book on to one of our online courses please follow the below process: Log in to your County FA website e.g. London FA (www.londonfa.com) You can do this by clicking ''Members' Services'' at the top right hand side of the screen Click Member Login and enter your FAN and Password Click ''My Football'' on the left hand side of the screen If you haven't logged into your County FA site before you may need to accept the terms and conditions to continue, you can do this by clicking on ''Terms and conditions'' under ''Alerts'' on the right hand side of the screen and ticking the ''I agree'' box before submitting. Now click ''My Football'' again then ''Online Courses'' below this, you should now be able to view all of the above online courses. 4
Once logged in the course will track your progress so that you can continue at any time. Should you have any technical difficulties with any of our courses please contact our online course team at OnlineCourseQuery@TheFA.com. Each online course will accredit varied CPD for each level coach, please ensure you are completing a course that is relevant for your licence level. Should you have any queries on this, please contact FALicenceQuery@TheFA.com who will be able to provide further clarification. Chapter 2 The FA Licensed Coaches Club 2.1 What is The FA Licensed Coaches Club? The FA Licensed Coaches Club is The FA s membership scheme which aims to professionalise coaching across the game offering support to coaches at all levels. The membership scheme is looking to establish a culture of coaches taking increased responsibility for their own learning and development. As part of The FA Licensed Coaches Club continued commitment to supporting the development of coaches at all levels of the game the membership is now FREE of charge. Coaches can apply for their membership by visiting www.thefa.com/licensedcoachesclub. To obtain a full licence coaches will need to hold the following qualifications: FA Coaching Qualification In date FA Safeguarding Children qualification In date Emergency First Aid qualification FA CRB Check* *The FA CRB will be known as a DBS Enhanced Criminal Record Check from season 2013/14 It is best practice for a coach to retain his/her FA Licensed Coaches Club status each season, ensuring all coaches are in date, qualified and regularly completing CPD to update their learning 2.2 The Benefits of The FA Licensed Coaches Club There are a number of benefits to becoming an FA Licensed Coach. All coaches will receive a new official licence card to coach from The Football Association and many other benefits including: Access to The FA Licensed Coaches Club website with online resources, session plans, CPD notification, interviews and coaching news. Free England tickets (ballot entry for all home matches for England teams). Discounts on FA Learning courses. Access to accredited CPD training events. Discount on the LMA online courses (available via the website under the news tab). FA Photo Coaching Licence. Option to purchase public liability insurance. Option to purchase Physio Care cover Significant discount to The FA Coach s App i-drills Discounts on Wembley Tours 5
Discount on your accommodation with the Hilton, at St. George s Park The FA s National Football Centre Significant Discount off Perform at St. George s Park facility hire Discount off your own personalised sticker album with Topps Celebrations Option to subscribe to The FA s coaching magazine, The Boot Room Option to subscribe to UEFA s animated coaching tool, TaxtX for FREE Option to purchase Focus performance analysis software at a hugely reduced price One of the core principles of The FA Licensed Coaches Club is the value of continued professional development and by providing free membership the scheme is underlining The FA s dedication to coach learning and developing the next generation of innovative teachers of the game. The FA Licensed Coaches Club aim to provide all level coaches with opportunities to enhance learning and continue development supporting the learning outside of the qualification. 2.3 The FA Licensed Coaches Club CPD Requirements All FA Licensed Coaches are required to complete CPD hours each season in order to maintain their membership. The number of hours that need to be completed depend on the level of qualifications a coach holds (please see below). Qualification Level Minimum CPD How Often Level One 3 hours Seasonally (1st August 31st July) Level Two 5 hours Seasonally (1st August 31st July) Level Three* 5 hours Seasonally (1st August 31st July) *Level three coaches are required to complete formal CPD as part of their UEFA qualification retention (15 hours CPD every three years) To find out which courses qualify as CPD for each level coach please visit www.thefa.com/licensedcoachesclub where the CPD matrix can be found under the My Training section clicking on. Requests for accreditation of CPD for activities outside of this matrix will be considered on a case by cases basis and any such agreement must be obtained prior to undertaking the activity. 2.4 How The FA Licensed Coaches Club can help you monitor your CPD One of the many benefits of The FA Licensed Coaches Club is the comprehensive website and content available to Licensed Coaches. As an FA Licensed Coach you are provided with a personal login and are then able to access this facility. The My Training section of the website will show coaches the records which are held on their FAN profile and will clearly show when the CPD requirements have been met or need to be met (red cross, or green 6
tick). This means coaches are able to monitor their own development and ensure that they are meeting the CPD requirements each season in line with FA requirements. The FA Licensed Coaches Club offers a full CPD programme to all FA Licensed Coaches which will also assist when trying to locate a suitable event, regular communication from The FA Licensed Coaches Club team will also help coaches to monitor the requirements. Notifications of EA and Safeguarding children expiry dates are also communicated directly with FA Licensed Coaches to ensure coaches are on top of their qualifications. Please note that as Emergency First Aid and Safeguarding Children qualifications are pre-requisites of The FA Licensed Coaches Club, completing these courses will not count towards coaches CPD requirement. These also do not hold any technical coaching content and as such will not re-validate FA coaching qualifications. 2.5 Licensing and the grassroots game It is best practice for all coaches to be qualified and licensed; grassroots clubs will be able to track whether or not their club coaches are licensed by requesting to see a copy of the coaches licensed card. If a coach can produce this card the club knows that the coach is in date with all of the above requirements for the season. Better coach s means better players, if a coach is licensed and dedicated to continued professional development the coach, club and players should see the benefits. The minimum qualifications to work in a grassroots club Charter Standard Clubs lead coach must hold a minimum of an FA level 1. All coaches working with the FA mentoring scheme, Girls Centre of Excellence and Tesco s Skills programme must also specific coaching level requirements; all coaches must also be members of The FA Licensed Coaches Club. The FA National Game Strategy 2011 2015 aims to work towards having a qualified coach within every youth team. It is not mandatory for a coach to have specific qualifications to work in the grassroots game and club requirements may vary. Best practice is that all coaches hold a minimum of an FA Level 1 coaching badge; it is also advisable that coaches working within youth teams look to attend FA Youth Award courses. 3.1 The FA Licensed Coaches Club Chapter 3 Useful Contacts Email FALicenceQuery@TheFA.com Telephone 0844 980 8212 3.2 Your Local County FA To contact your local county FA, please open internet explorer and search for the relevant county FA, so for example London FA. This will open up the relevant County FA website, where if required you can also locate telephone and email details for the required department. 7