Changes to the BCU Coach Qualifications

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:07 pm

With the current changes to the BCU coaching qualifications to come into line with the UKCC how will this affect your club?

If you do not know anything about it yet, then some details can be found on the BCU Website

In essence to become a L2 coach from next year it will cost triple the amount it does now.

Discuss!

gary_b27 · Post by **gary_b27** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:58 pm

Im doing my assesment in a few weeks how will it affect me??? would i have to do it??

gary_b27 · Post by **gary_b27** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:58 pm

BAD IDEA:(

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:58 pm

My advice to everyone would be to gain the highest qualification you can under the existing structure whilst there is a window.

There is a lot of disquiet amongst the recreational coaching community as the new awards are aimed at competition coaches and the grass root level club coaches that introduce people to the sport are going to be effectively priced out of the training courses as volunteers could not afford the time or expence to take these qualifications, the implications could be that club's will have to close because they don't have a suitably qualified coach to comply with legislation.

Not a good way to encourage paddlesport !

Anne · Post by **Anne** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:01 am

My understanding is that this is a national initiative to all sports, not just canoeing.

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:47 am

That is true, but not all NGB's have taken it on at the moment.

Whilst it could be good for the competition side of the sport, slalom, marathon, sprint and other olympic disiplines the general recreation side will suffer along with the small clubs that may not have the funding to re-educate their coaches to the new standard.

For examble to become a L3 recreational coach (as required to run a club) now will cost around £785.00 this includes the star tests, CST and L2 and L3 training and assessment, under the new UKCC the same qualification will cost £1705.00 this does not inlude fuel, accomodation and food for the weekends away. This is a lot of money for an individual or club to find plus there is the additional time factor involved with additional courses to complete with SCUK and retraining for assessors for the new star test's.

As clubs are run by volunteers it is something to consider now with any new funding bids that are being submitted to include the additional costs of retraining for existing club coaches and any potential new ones.

Seedy Paddler · Post by **Seedy Paddler** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:23 am

Had a look at some of the early drafts and have not been impressed with the proposals and transfer to UKCC. Whilst I agree with some of the objectives I have yet to see how it all fits together when all that has been issued is canoe-sport specific. As someone with a current BCU qualification that has just started on a track of SFA qualification I would have thought it would be more beneficial. In effect they are poles apart, indeed the SFA Coaches are not even aware of any plans to change.

Two main issues spring to mind, firstly the BCU-UKCC scheme is far more onerous and time consuming for the recreational Club paddler. Looking at the sylabus my immediate reaction is that I would not become a qualified coach - and I have been coaching for circa 25 years including involvement with National squads. It may be fine for those involved in commercial coaching (outdoor centres etc.) and hence need to have a range of strings to their bow, but the core element on paper seems far too complex, costly and time consuming.

What I have seen on paper does not match the old NCF schemes, a system that has been discarded and was refused any recognition by BCU Coaching (I can vouch that some NCF courses were way ahead of the content, level and quality of BCU modules). Yet because they were not canoe specific they were regarded as irrelevent, despite the whole objective of providing the knowledge and understanding and encouraging inter-sport discussion on the application.

Secondly there is the migration to the new scheme, why do we have to ditch the existing when we do not even have all the elements in place for the new. Far less be in a position to define the success and quality of the new scheme. There should be a transition period when there are options both with the traditional scheme and with the new until all the course sylabbi and requirements are fully defined and available to operate. The proposals to drop existing and leave some aspirant coaches in limbo until we get a final version of the scheme beggars belief. To any aspirant Coach I strongly suggest you get qualified ASAP and before March 2007, otherwise be prepared to find that you revert to starting from scratch.

Unfortunately the Coaching Scheme has been dominated by those in outdoor education and commercial centres. They hid behind excessive costs etc until Lyme Bay exposed the Centre approval scheme as substantially flawed. The sigh of relief when it was noted that Lyme Bay was not part of the scheme was huge and had the very top levels of the BCU scurrying away to re-view and audit the scheme. the BCU-UKCC scheme seems to be no different only slanted by the over-zealous desire to appease the paymaster of UK Sport and their theories on sport development. It does not redress the needs and desires of the vast voluntary army that actually does the real grass roots work of encouraging and developing young sportspersons.

jojo · Post by **jojo** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 8:09 pm

Just to clarify, the BCU are saying that those BCU members who already hold Coach Level 1-3 will not be affected by any direct need to retrain as the BCU will continue to recognise those awards. Presumably this will continue to suffice for Clubs etc. People will be able to transfer to the new scheme if they wish by taking the next level of award from their current level. Coaches at Level 4 and above will need to undertake additional training. The major impact will be on people coming into the sport in future.
However, it does appear that there will be some changes since the current proposal for the star awards states that Star awards will need to be assessed by Star awards assessors. Coaches will need to go on the assessors course to assess 2 star and above. It also states that 2 star skills will include canoe and kayak skills so existing coaches may need some additional training. The new syllabus indicates that as a coach you can only train people for the star award equivalent to your own grade of qualification (Level 1 coach for 1 star, Level 2 for 2 star etc) but I expect that clubs who have coaches with years of experience will find their own ways around this, using assessors to assess once candidates have been "prepared" for their assessment by experienced BCU coaches.
Best advice appears to be make sure you hold your canoe and kayak 2 star awards and if you have already done your level 2 or 3 training make sure you take and pass your assessment before march 2008 since this is when the new BCU UKCC Coach assessments start. Jo

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:17 pm

jojo wrote:Just to clarify, the BCU are saying that those BCU members who already hold Coach Level 1-3 will not be affected by any direct need to retrain as the BCU will continue to recognise those awards.

This unfortunatly is not the case as the existing BCU qualifications will only be honoured till 2012, hmmm what else is happening that year? And all coaches will need to retrain to coach which will involve a lot more time some APL will be taken into account but at what level has not been specified.

There is going to be a distinct lack of assessors for *tests nationally unless you are a teacher or in FE you basically have not a prayer of becoming an assessor.

There is a lobby at the moment to hold an EGM to represent the views of the coaches as the general consensous is that a lot whilst they agree with some of the changes, the way it has been impilmented has not been thought out.

Seedy Paddler · Post by **Seedy Paddler** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:04 am

Sorry Gents, but the last update for our Coaching Panel was that the transferral had still to be defined, but with the various changes to Coaching requirements and the Star tests it was liable to require more than the minimum Coach Update session.

In other words prepare to be advised that your Coaching Qualification will expire and you will need to transfer/retrain to a UKCC grading within the next 2 years far less 2012.

Unfortunately after last years efforts by the white water access boys, the BCU have amended the requirements and it may be highly unlikely that sufficient critical mass can be brought to instigate an EGM, but then that is the democracy that BCU officialdom prefer.

Geebs · Post by **Geebs** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:46 am

In other words what the BCU members think carries no weight, they will do what they want to and s*d the membership and the coaches that give up thier free time for the good of the sport

You all may be interested to look at this thread on another forum http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/foru ... hp?t=16121