Interim Development Director Chris Moss provides an update on the last few months in the development team:

As part of a regular series, the Development Team are continuing to provide updates across key areas of the sport. This update relates to the operational areas across the directorate including; Coaching Development, Officials Development, Clean Athletics, Facilities, Safeguarding and Rules & Procedures.

It has been busy summer with some superb performances by athletes at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, those wearing home country colours at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and at the recent European Athletics Championships in Munich, whilst at age group level, the European U18 Championships in Jerusalem and the World Junior Championships in Cali provided the opportunity for some of our younger athletes to shine. The summer of 2022 has been a great showcase for athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers alike.

Following the last update at the start of the summer period there have been a number of developments across the sport as outlined in more detail below:

Coaching Development

As detailed in the UK wide Coaching Strategy for Athletics there is a clear intent to develop a progressive learning and development framework including new, role based, advanced coaching qualifications. There has been significant interest and engagement, with the feedback having indicated that coaches want; bespoke learning according to the needs of the individual coach applied to the coaching environment, content that is written and developed by experts in the field, support from a skilled Coach Developer in order to support and facilitate both learning and skill development with appropriate content and activities that focus on and develop situational and problem-based learning.

With these principles in mind, much work has been done, with experts, on curriculum planning and production of content. In addition, training is underway with prospective Coach Developers who will individualise every coach’s learning journey and create Communities of Practice where coaches will benefit from peer-to-peer learning, solve their real-life coaching problems together and develop the required knowledge, skills and behaviours for the Advanced Coach Award. Over the coming weeks, we will be conducting a series of Focus Groups to present the proposed Advanced Coach journey, content and time frame to receive further feedback and input.

Earlier this year, the UKA Board signed off the UKA Gender Equity in Coaching Action Plan, which aims to; create tangible equality of opportunity for current and future female performance coaches, increasing the pool of talented coaches for the UKA Performance Teams and; to ensure equality of treatment and respect for female coaches, leaders and officials throughout the sport at all levels.

There has been an increase in the number of female coaches involved on team staff with the GB & NI teams at World and European level for seniors, as well as Para and Junior teams.  The contribution of these coaches has been invaluable, and their skills and experience has not only increased the talent pool available for these teams but has provided athletes with additional support and improved team dynamics as a whole.  In addition, many will have noticed that we are also publishing the names and roles of GB & NI Team staff on publication of the finalised team of athletes selected.

As per the UKA Gender Equity in Coaching Action Plan, we have also implemented an event-specific approach to gender equity in coaching, by targeting the Endurance events, both on and off track. Through the work of Jackie Newton (Head of Coaching Development), Chris Jones who leads on the UKA Endurance Strategy and the support of the Female Coaching Network, we have delivered an Endurance Focus Group session to further understand the barriers to female endurance coaches, this was held in May at the Manchester British Milers Club meeting and feedback has been extremely positive. The developments are already showing progress as we have added an additional two female coaches to the UKA Advisory Groups and had two female team coaches responsible for Endurance at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.

The ‘Meet the Coaches’ series featured on the UKA digital channels has continued to be popular, showcasing the great work and dedication of many coaches and leaders from across the UK. To view all profiles and to catch up on these profiles, please click here.

From an existing qualifications perspective, we have worked closely across all home countries to successful pilot the new look Coaching Assistant qualification (blended learning approach) and will continue to move forward with developments in both first aid and safeguard training as appropriate for the sport.

Officials Development

Firstly, our thanks and appreciation must go to all those involved in the facilitation and delivery of the multiple championships across the busy summer period. It has been an excellent period in terms of showcasing the sport at the highest level, none of which would have been possible without the help and support of so many dedicated officials and volunteers.

We have had success internationally with three new candidates successfully completing the European Athletics Technical Delegates Course and Evaluation. Congratulations goes to Lis Henderson, Sarah Rowell and Steve Taylor who have been integrated in the European Athletics Technical Delegates’ Panel for the period 2023-2026.

Through the Meet the Officials series, we have continued to profile key individuals across the sport. One individual featured in this series was Level 3 Field Official Jack Lambert and we were delighted to have Jack involved in the recent European Athletics Young Leaders Conference which took place during the recent European Championships in Munich.

Qualifications wise, we have developed the timekeeping qualification as well as the call room module and extend our thanks to the individuals that have worked to support these developments. Looking forward, the next quarter will see the return of the ‘Communities of Practice’ webinars and engagement sessions.

Clean Athletics

As already outlined, it has been a busy summer and the Clean Athletics Team have been busy delivering essential education and training as well as wider outreach work and activities at events throughout the UK. Our appreciation must go to the wider team of Clean Athletics educators and trainers that have supported these activities throughout the least few months.

An integral part of this programme and strategy is to highlight the requirements of athletes that fall under the remit of the National TUE Pool. Further details can be found here. As ever, further information relating to all Clean Athletics activity and support resources can be found in the comprehensive Clean Athletics section of the site or alternatively, if you have any direct enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact the UKA Clean Athletics team via: enquiries@cleanathletics.org.uk

Facilities

The TrackMark accreditation scheme continues to help support the development of facilities across the UK, improving provision and increasing standards across the UK. The number of fully accredited facilities continues to increase with over 50% of the remaining facilities actively working towards accreditation. Some of which are highlighted through our UKA Development twitter handle and also with case studies published on the website

The next few weeks should see UKA launch a comprehensive web based TrackMark directory which will provide a live database of facilities across the UK. Further information and additional detail will be released upon launch.  Further information and all supporting documentation relating to facilities can be found on the UKA facilities page or with the April 2023 deadline rapidly approaching, to receive additional information relating to TrackMark accreditation, please email: TrackMark@uka.org.uk

Safeguarding

It’s now more than a year since we launched the revised safeguarding procedures and referral rates have increased in the last quarter as the procedures become embedded at all levels of athletics and increasingly it is recognised that safeguarding is a collective responsibility across the sport – not just the obligation of a few. The home countries have been supporting the increase in standards locally delivering engagement activities as well as seminars and webinars to support the implementation. This approach will continue over the next 12 months with further safeguarding support sessions being delivered across the UK.

In line with our objectives, the safeguarding training programme has now been fully developed with the support of the CPSSU. Training is now available at three different levels depending on an individual’s roles and responsibilities within the sport. Aligned to this, the coaching team have been working to recruit, train and develop the tutor workforce to support this delivery.

Moving forward we are in the process of developing further resources to highlight key challenges as well as the support available. Further information in relation to all areas of safeguarding can be found by accessing the Safeguarding section of the UKA site.

Rules & Procedures

As we are aware, the rules and procedures related to the effective delivery of the sport are continually evolving. Since the release in April there have been some minor amendments and clarifications to the UKA Rules for Competition, incorporating World Athletics Rules which are detailed in the UKA Rules for Competition Supplementary Guidance Notes. Naturally, all details can be found can be found on the Rules of Competition page. In addition, a summary of the changes can be found here.

Likewise, the latest versions of both the Coaches and Technical Officials Licence Terms and Conditions, along with the latest versions of the Disciplinary Rules and Procedures and the Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal Rules and Procedures can be found on the Policies and Regulations page we would encourage all licenced coaches, leaders and officials to visit these on a regular basis.

If you require any further information on the update provided, please use the contact addresses within the individual sections or use the links available on https://www.uka.org.uk/contact-uka/