TASS enhance package for Dual Career Sites

Education institutions across England are set to benefit from a series of bespoke learning resources after TASS bolstered its support package for student athletes.

A newly launched portal will provide members of the TASS Dual Career Accredited Scheme with access to 18 off the shelf workshops.

And Kirsty Field, TASS National Lead (Institutions), revealed the move is in direct response to feedback from college staff keen to maximise the development of their rising stars.

“It can often be challenging for Further Education (FE) sites to deliver workshops in-house and we wanted to make that easier for them,” she said.

“The feedback we’ve had from the accredited schools and colleges is that they’d really appreciate support in terms of delivering workshops.

“We asked the colleges to complete a survey and asked them to identify the topics that would be most useful to cover.

“We’ve come up with a portfolio of 18 different workshops.”

TASS has accredited 52 FE colleges as part of its Dual Career Scheme and the new workshops will be available nationwide from December 6.

“We’re really excited to see what the curriculum of workshops will look like for our students,” said Becs McCairns, Dual Career Coordinator at King Ecgbert School in South Yorkshire.

“We’re certain that it will benefit them hugely in their academic and sporting challenges.

“Being part of the Dual Career Scheme gives our students a real sense of community within schools.

“However, the team at TASS is continually looking to develop their offer and go above and beyond to support schools and athletes, putting our joint needs at the centre of everything they do.”

The 18 workshops cover a range of topics from media responsibilities, resilience and sleep to UK anti-doping policy.

“We’ve just launched the dual career portal and the new workshops sit within its resources hub,” explained Kirsty.

“There are lesson plans with power points and associated resources. They are off the shelf and ready to go and there’s a video element too.

“The workshops are designed to complement what the students are learning at school and college and with each topic we’ve ensured there’s a strong dual career focus.”

Dual Career Coordinators across the country provided feedback in a bid to help shape the content within the workshops.

And Steve Wilkinson, who fulfils that role at Loughborough College, added: “The new workshops will be a fantastic addition to the TASS Dual Career provision.

“The new content will help everyone who is involved in the delivery to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding. That can only help the athletes to develop too.”

Andy Douthwaite, Dual Career Coordinator at Hereford Sixth Form College, echoed his colleagues’ views.

“Having a series of off the shelf workshops, which have been quality assured by TASS through Sport England, will be of huge benefit,” he added.

“It means that we’re able to deliver content to our students which we know is relevant and current and that will support their ambitions of becoming the elite athletes of the future.”

 

To find out more about the TASS Dual Career Accreditation Scheme, watch this 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnScFrpzCfo&feature=youtu.be